Living with Confidence - Pt.1
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro:
When you buy something expensive, one of the first things you look for is a guarantee.
“Is there a warranty?”
“What happens if something goes wrong?”
Because if there’s no guarantee, you’re uneasy.
Think about all the ways we deal with that in everyday life:
You buy a car… and you ask about the extended warranty
You book a flight… and you pay extra for trip insurance
You own a home… you carry homeowners insurance
You drive every day… you have auto insurance
You go to the doctor… you depend on health insurance
Some people even insure their phones, appliances, or electronics
Why do we do all that?
It’s not necessarily because we expect something to go wrong every day.
It’s because we know:
things break
plans fall through
accidents happen
life is unpredictable
So we spend money… sometimes a lot of money…
just to have peace of mind.
Because uncertainty makes us uneasy.
But here’s what’s interesting…
All those things we insure
cars,
homes,
trips,
our health
They’re all temporary… yes, they are important, but they’re not eternal.
And yet when it comes to the most important thing of all…
our relationship with God…
our eternal life…
a lot of people are living with more uncertainty there than anywhere else.
They’ve got coverage on everything else…
…but when it comes to their soul, it’s:
“I hope so…”
“I think so…”
or “I’m trying my best…”
A lot of Christians are living their spiritual lives without a sense of guarantee.
They believe in Jesus… but they’re not sure where they stand.
They’re thinking:
“I hope I’m saved…”
“I think I am…”
“Maybe I am…”
And John steps into that uncertainty and says:
1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you… that you may know that you have eternal life… ”
As we come to the end of this letter, John is doing something very intentional.
He’s not introducing something new.
He’s reminding us of what matters most.
After everything he’s said about…
light and darkness…
truth and error…
love and obedience
… he pauses here at the end and brings it all together.
It’s like a pastor who’s been teaching truth week after week, and then comes to the final message in a book and says:
“Before we move on… here’s what I want you to walk away with.”
That’s what this passage is.
This is John stepping back and saying:
“If your faith is real… you can live with confidence.”
Not arrogance.
Not pride.
But a settled, steady, unshakable confidence in your relationship with God.
And today, we’re going to see the first half of what that confidence looks like and then, Lord Willing, we will close this letter next week…
Let’s read the final verses this morning…
Read vv.13-21
Meat:
Throughout this letter, John has been going back and forth…
between the believer and the unbeliever…
between the true follower of Christ and the one who only claims to be…
Over and over, he’s been drawing a line and asking:
“Which side are you on?”
And if we’re honest, that may have stirred some points reflection… maybe even some uncertainty:
“Is my faith real?”
“Do I truly know Him?”
And I think that’s exactly what John was trying to do.
But now, as he comes to the end of this letter, he doesn’t leave us there.
In just these final verses, John uses the word “know” (K N O W) seven times.
He’s not trying to leave you guessing—he’s trying to ground you in certainty…
And he’s showing us several areas where the true believer doesn’t have to wonder…
We can know…. We can live confidence…
First of all…
We can live with confidence because…
1. We Know we are Saved
1. We Know we are Saved
1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
John is saying…
“This is why I’ve written this letter—
I want you to know.
I want you to be certain.
I want you to live with confidence.”
Now there are some religious systems that teach the exact opposite.
For example, the Roman Catholic’s teach, assurance of salvation is generally not something a person can have with certainty in this life. The idea is that your final standing isn’t fully known until after death, based on a combination of faith, works, and the grace of God.
So the mindset becomes:
“I hope I make it…”
“I’m doing my best…”
“We’ll see in the end…”
But that’s not what John says.
John says:
“…that you may know that you have eternal life…”
Not hope.
Not wait and see.
Not find out later.
You may know… right now!
And if we say no one can know for sure, then we’re not just disagreeing with a small point…
We’re going against the very reason John says he wrote this letter…
Because his whole purpose is…
that true believers would not live in uncertainty…
but in confident assurance…. …
We have to remember Who was inspiring John to write these things…
2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God… ”
2 Peter 1:21 “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
Which means that for John to write these words in v.13…
1.1 Assurance is God’s Intention
1.1 Assurance is God’s Intention
All throughout 1 John, he has been giving us evidence of real faith:
1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 2:3 “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.”
1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren…”
1 John 4:2 “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,”
39 times throughout this letter John says “We know” or “you know”… why?… … So you don’t have to spend your life wondering if you’re saved.
John MacArthur said:
“God wants His children to have assurance, not anxiety.”
And yet many believers live with quiet doubt.
“Am I really saved?”
“What if I mess up too much?”
“What if I don’t measure up?”
John says… You don’t have to live like that… because…
1.2 Assurance is grounded in Christ, not feelings
1.2 Assurance is grounded in Christ, not feelings
John tells us exactly who is able to live with this type of confidence…
those “…who believe in the name of the Son of God…”
Your confidence is not in:
how consistent you’ve been
how strong your emotions feel
how good your week was
Your confidence is in Jesus Christ.
Charles Spurgeon said:
“It is not your hold of Christ that saves you, (pause) it is Christ.”
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
If your salvation depended on you, you’d always have a reason to doubt it…
but because it depends on Christ, you have every reason to be confident… which means that…
1.3 Assurance changes how we live
1.3 Assurance changes how we live
You obey out of love, not because of pressure
again… chapter 2:3… “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.”
Meaning that… Obedience isn’t a burden you carry—it’s the evidence of a relationship you already have with Christ
You serve out of gratitude, not guilt
Chapter 4:19… “We love Him because He first loved us.”
You don’t serve Christ to trying and earn His love—you’re responding to a love that’s already been given.
And You pursue holiness out of identity, not insecurity
Chapter 3:9… “Whoever has been born of God does not practice sin…”
You’re not pursuing holiness to become God’s child—you pursue it because you already are.
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
Secondly… We Can Live with Confidence Because…
2. We Can Approach God
2. We Can Approach God
Look at vv. 14&15…
1 John 5:14–15 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
So, not only do we have confidence in our salvation, but we also have confidence in our prayers…
We touched on this back in chapter 3, but if John thought his immediate readers needed to hear it again, then I suppose we may need to as well…
But we can approach God…
2.1 With Boldness
2.1 With Boldness
“This is the confidence that we have in Him…”
That word confidence carries the idea of boldness…
freedom to speak…
freedom to come in contact with…
freedom to approach without hesitation.
Think about that…
John is saying when your faith is real, you don’t have to come to God:
nervously
cautiously
or wondering if you’re welcome
You can come boldly.
When we go over to my folks house for a visit… I may ring the doorbell 5 or 6 times very quickly just to be funny… but if the door is unlocked… I don’t wait for someone to open it… I just walk in… I know that we are welcome anytime…
That’s the confidence, the boldness that John is talking about…
You don’t come to God like a stranger hoping you won’t be turned away.
You come like a child who knows:
“This is my Father… and I belong here.”
Like I said, John introduced this idea in chapter 3…
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
Instead of avoiding God when you fail…
instead of keeping your distance when you struggle…
you draw near.
You talk to Him.
You bring your needs to Him.
You open your heart to Him.
But there is a proper way to do it… it is sort of mentioned in this verse on the screen…
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”
and then back to v.14 of chapter 5…
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
Meaning that we can approach God…
2.2 According to His Will
2.2 According to His Will
This is where our understanding of prayer has to be corrected.
Prayer is not about getting God to line up with your plans.
It’s about your heart being shaped by His will.
God is not just some genie out there granting wishes…
I think I used this quote before… but it is so true…
A. W. Tozer said:
“Prayer is not a means of making God do what we want; it is a means of aligning ourselves with His will.”
And John has already been building toward this idea throughout the letter.
Back in chapter 2:17, he said:
“… the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
In other words:
Real believers don’t just want their will done… they want God’s will done.
And then in chapter 3:22, he connects this directly to prayer:
“… whatever we ask we receive from Him, BECAUSE we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight”
So there’s a relationship here:
When your life is aligned with God…
When your heart desires what pleases Him…
Not only will your prayers begin to reflect His will…
But it is at that point that He puts an attentive ear to what we are praying for…
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
So instead of praying:
“God, fix this my way…”
“God, give me exactly what I want…”
We begin to pray:
“God, accomplish Your will.”
“God, shape my desires.”
“God, work in me and through me.”
“Not MY will… but YOUR will be done”
v.15…
“And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
That doesn’t mean… that every prayer is answered exactly how we want
It means:
God always answers…
according to His wisdom …
according to His goodness…
according to His will…
But we can be confident in know that… God will ALWAYS do what is right…
The last area that I want to mention this morning is…
We Can Live with Confidence Because…
3. We Care for One Another
3. We Care for One Another
Remember, this was another area that serves as proof of our relationship with God…
1 John 2:9–11 “9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.
10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
also…
1 John 3:10–11 “10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,”
v.14… “14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.”
And
1 John 4:11 “11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
There are more within the previous chapters, but you get the idea…
Our love and care for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is highly emphasized throughout this letter…
And John mentions it again here at the end…
1v.16 of chapter 5…
1 John 5:16 “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.”
We’ll break this down fairly quickly…
First of all…
3.1 Believers don’t Ignore Sin
3.1 Believers don’t Ignore Sin
Look at the first phrase of v.16…
“If anyone sees his brother sinning…”
That brings up a major assumption right away…
You’re close enough to other believers to actually see what’s going on in their lives.
This isn’t surface-level Christianity.
This isn’t showing up, sitting down, and leaving without ever really knowing anyone.
John is describing a kind of relationship where:
you know people
you’re around people
you’re invested in people
Because Christianity was never meant to be lived at a distance.
All throughout this letter, John has emphasized the fact that, real faith shows up in real relationships… Not just with Christ, but with other fellow believers as well.
So when someone begins to struggle…
when sin starts to show up in their life…
Real believers don’t:
ignore it
pretend it’s not happening
keep their distance
talk about it behind their back
Instead, there should be a sense of responsibility.
Not a harsh, critical spirit…
but a loving awareness that says:
“I care too much about you to act like this doesn’t matter.”
Now the reality is… when you step into someone’s life like that… when you bring up something that needs to change… they may not respond well at first.
Let’s just be honest about that.
People can get defensive.
They can misunderstand your motives.
They can even pull away for a time.
Because none of us naturally enjoys having our struggles pointed out.
But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to care.
And it certainly doesn’t mean we stay silent.
Because love doesn’t look the other way.
Love doesn’t say, “That’s their problem.”
Love steps in… carefully, humbly, and prayerfully.
And that’s exactly where John is leading us next:
Not just to notice sin…
but to respond to it the right way.
As we care for people…
3.2 We Respond with Intercession
3.2 We Respond with Intercession
John says “…he will ask…”
In other words, the one who sees a brother or sister struggling…
doesn’t just notice it
doesn’t just talk about it
He prays.
You go to God on their behalf.
You bring their name before the Lord.
You ask God to:
work in their heart
open their eyes
strengthen them
restore them
And think about what that reveals.
It reveals a heart that truly cares.
Because it’s easy to talk about someone…
but it takes love to pray for them.
And here’s something important to understand:
Sometimes we want to fix people.
We want to step in and change things ourselves.
But John reminds us:
real change is God’s work.
That’s why we pray.
Because according to John…
Real believers respond with intercession.
I think D.L. Moody was spot on when he said…
“Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.”
Now, before we close, I need to address the last half of v.16 and v.17… where John states…
“… There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.”
When John talks about a “sin leading to death” we need to be careful not to misunderstand what he’s saying.
He’s not pointing to one specific sin—
like saying, “this sin leads to death, but that one doesn’t.”
That’s not the idea.
What he’s describing is a situation where a believer continues in deliberate, unrepentant sin—
Not a stumble…
not a moment of weakness…
But a settled pattern where they refuse to deal with it.
And there are times when, in God’s discipline,
He may choose to bring that person’s life to an end.
Not as condemnation
but as serious, final discipline.
We see examples of this in Scripture:
Acts 5 with Ananias and Sapphira
1 Corinthians 11, where some were weak, sick, and even died
So John is saying:
When someone brings serious disruption into the family of God by living in ongoing, unrepentant sin… they may come under severe discipline from the Lord.
And John says, in those kinds of situations, this isn’t something we’re given the same confidence to pray about.
He’s not outright saying, “Don’t pray at all.”…
But he is making it clear:
You can’t approach that situation with the same assurance that God will answer in the way you’re asking.
Because at that point, God may have already determined to act in discipline.
So the difference is this:
In most cases, we pray with confidence for restoration.
But in some serious cases, we recognize that God’s discipline may already be in motion.
But in either case, we can trust that God will always do what is 100% right…
Closing:
As we close part 1 of this sermon today… I will simply reiterate what John is trying to point out…
You don’t have to live unsure about your salvation
so stop saying “I hope so” and rest in what Christ has already done for you.
You don’t have to hesitate when you pray
so come to God boldly as your Father and trust Him to do what is right according to His will.
You don’t have to stay disconnected from others
so step into real relationships and care enough to pray and speak when you see someone struggling.
Prayer:
Help us to have confidence in our salvation
Help us to come boldly in prayer - according to Your will
Help us to care enough for others to pray for them and encourage them to be more like you.
May we lead by example on a daily basis…
