Confidence in Prayer

1 John 5:13-17 Confidence in Prayer Introduction: Knowing that we have eternal life leads us back to confidence before God in relation to prayer. 1. Confidence in prayer- a. “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. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 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.” i. Confidence comes from knowing that we are asking for things that are in accordance with God’s will. b. What are the things we can have absolute confidence about in prayer? i. The Lord’s Prayer - “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from evil.” -Matthew 6:9-13 ii. People to Repent - “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9 iii. Your Sanctification (your own personal holiness) “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor” -1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 iv. The Great Commission- supply of resources to get the gospel out. - matthew 28:19-20 v. Prayer for Boldness. - Acts 4:24-31 vi. The Prayers of Paul in his Epistles. 1. "Every true prayer is a variation of the theme 'your will be done'" -Stott 2. The purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what we want done, but to align ourselves with the will of God. a. Notice John doesn’t just say anything we ask, but anything according to his will. c. How do we pray with confidence for things that we don’t know God’s will on? i. Again, simply adding, not my will, but yours be done. These prayer are known as supplications. A prayer with humility. 2. Confidence in praying for those who have strayed. a. 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. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. b. What is Sin that does not lead to death? i. Sin that does not lead to death seems to be sin that is committed by a Christian. The reason it does not lead to death is because Jesus Christ has died and risen again to set us free from the power of sin. As John said earlier in this epistle, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” ii. What John is saying is that if we have a brother or a sister that is committing sin we have a very effective tool in bringing about repentance in their life. Prayer! iii. Prayer is a very powerful weapon, but only if it is used in accordance with scripture. I think that John is referring to the convicting work of the Holy spirit in the believers life. As we pray for our brothers and sisters that get caught up in sin we can be certain that God will bring them to repentance, that sin will not having a lasting hold on their lives. c. Sin to death. i. What is the sin that leads to death? And why shouldn’t we pray for those who commit it? 1. John has written this letter to assure believers that the message that they received from him and the Apostle’s is the truth, that Jesus is the Christ, and that by believing in him they are possessors of eternal life. Therefore, given the context of the letter, the sin which leads to death seems to be the continual rejection of the truth concerning Jesus Christ. 2. These false teachers, similar to the Pharisees, knew that Jesus was the Christ but they rejected this truth because of the implications. (Matt 27:18; Luke 20:9-18) a. Hebrews 6:4-8 “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.” 3. John does not encourage praying for them...they are passed the point of no return. 4. It seems harsh doesn’t it? Would you feel comfortable making that judgment call? I wouldn’t! a. We need to realize that John is describing to us an extreme case. He has already identified these false teachers as self deceived, liars, in darkness, hateful, being overcome by the wicked one, being of the world, being themselves Antichrist’, of the devil, children of the devil, like cain, murderers, false prophets, of the spirit of error, and accusers of God (they call God a liar). b. Once again, John isn’t pulling any punches, he says exactly what he means to say, and he says it clearly, in black and white. John leaves no doubt in our minds as to what he thinks of these “teachers” who are trying to deceive this church - they are nothing less than from hell and to hell they shall return. Do not pray for them, they are past the point of no return. i. John isn’t the only one who speaks of false teachers in this way. ii. “Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” - 2 Peter 2:10-22 iii. “But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.” -Jude 10-13 iv. The blatant denial of the truth concerning Jesus Christ and the leading astray of God’s people is so heinous a crime that Jesus himself said, “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” - Matthew 18:6 v. It is also possible that John is thinking of the Word that the Lord spoke, to the prophet Jeremiah, concerning the nation of Israel and their apostasy. 1. Jeremiah 7:16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.” Conclusion: John’s closing words to boost our assurance. He begins each statement with: We Know. Therefore we can be certain of these things. 1. If you are born of God, you will not continue in sin, and you are safe from any long term damage from the devil. -He cannot lay his hold on you. (long term deception, demonic possession, etc) 2. We are from God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one (the devil). 3. The Son of God has come (not some phantom/spirit, not a lesser God). He has given us revelation or understanding concerning him who is true. We are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (Jesus is God) Little children keep yourselves from Idols. (any other teaching, worldview, religion, that does not hold to this truth. Namely the teaching of these false teachers) 4.