Confidence and Compassion in Prayer
1 John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsThis passage says that there is a sin that does not lead to death. What does that mean?
Notes
Transcript
There are two sections
in this sermon.
Confidence in Supplication
The sin that leads to death.
Section 1
Section 1
read 14 and 15:
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.
There is an
over-simplistic way of
understanding this verse.
Pray to God
He will hear.
He will fulfill request.
Under further inspection
there is more to it.
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
Confidence
Confidence
We should have
confidence in prayer.
Why?
Because we believe.
Believe in who/what?
We believe in a Go
Almighty God.
Compassionate God.
Providing God.
God is almighty,
there is nothing to
complex
impossible
for him.
No problem to big
for him to solve.
God is Compassionate
He is not just strong.
He is also caring.
Other God’s in bible:
arbitrary
wrathful
must be appeased
sensual
earthly
Our God is like
none of those things.
He is just
and caring!
Our God is a:
Providing God!
Countless times in scripture
God calls himself
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
He wants to
take care of us.
God is
Almighty
Caring
A Proving God.
This is why
we can have
confidence in prayer.
Let’s move on
to the next point
in the verse.
We must ask:
According to His Will
According to His Will
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
What does it mean?
According to His Will?
Is this just
another catch-phrase
we should throw
into our prayers
without much meaning?
Certainly Not!
God only does things
with meaning and purpose.
This passage
puts the story
behind the meaning.
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus’ human side
did not want
to go to the cross.
Crying out:
Is there another way?
I don’t want to do it!
Your Will Father!
Your Will!
By the way,
What Was
What Is
the Father’s will
according to passage?
Our Salvation.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification...
What is God’s will?
Our salvation.
With Jesus,
there were many things
He did not want to do
but had to
for our salvation.
The same is true
for us!
Many people ask
why did God
allow XXX thing...
Better question is
Lord,
do I have to drink this cup???
Nevertheless,
not as I will
but as you will.
Lord,
I don’t want to
accept this from you hand
but I will if
it is helpful for
my salvation
other’s salvation
great controversy.
I accept Your will.
An excuse not to be
persistent and earnest?
Some have used
“if it is your will”
as an excuse
for half-hearted prayer...
If our situation
is desperate and
we need God’s help
we usually don’t
stop praying quickly.
But when other ask
please pray for me...
it is easy to
not persist in prayer
for their needs...
There is a quick out...
I prayed,
“if it is your will.”
The ball is in
God’s court now.
That is somewhat true.
But not completely.
Jesus was clear
it is God’s will
for us to pray persistently.
The Parable of the
Persistent Widow
starts with these words.
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
We need persistent prayer
not to convince God
not to remind God
but for ourselves.
Persistent prayer
provides time for
our own hearts to
prepare to align our
desires with the desires
of our Loving God.
Let’s move to
the last part
of the verse
where it promises
that:
He Hears Us
He Hears Us
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
This is a promise
what do we have
confidence in?
Not just that we
serve a
powerful
compassionate
God.
We serve a God
who longs to listen
to the cry of our heart!
He is waiting
for us to
talk to Him!
Let’s move on
to the next verse.
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.
With a
quick
cursory
reading...
Sounds like
we get anything
we ask in prayer.
Of course we
already have
the condition from
the prior verse;
We must ask
according to His will.
This verse adds more.
It says:
If He Hears Us
If 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.
The next few verses
talk about people
we should/should not
being praying for.
I’ll get into that shortly.
Here is point,
there are people
that we should not prayer for.
This implies,
there are certain types
of intercessory prayers
God will not listen to!
Joshua
Defeat at Ai
Joshua crying out
asking God why...
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.
And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!
O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth.
And what will you do for your great name?”
The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face?
Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.
God said,
stop praying
stop interceding
deal wit the situation!
other verses:
When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
“As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts,
There is a condition
for God to hear our prayers.
We must be
sincere
not willfully hypocritical.
Let’s move to
the most controversial
part of the verse.
We have the Request
We have the Request
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.
What does this mean?
Name it!
Claim it!??
If not,
what does it mean?
If it meets
the conditions...
According to God’s Will
Good for my salvation
Good for other’s salvation
Good for Great Controversy
Sincere Prayer
From repentant heart
Not hiding sin
Open to God’s leading
If our prayers
do meet these
2 conditions
then we can
be confident...
We will receive,
what we ask.
Here’s the problem,
You cannot know
for absolute certainty
if answering your prayer
is good for
your salvation
other’s salvation
the great controversy...
What we can know
God is doing His best
to make us
eternally happy!
Section 2
Section 2
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.
The passage is trying
to differentiate between
sin that leads to death
sin that DOES NOT lead to death.
This is quite confusing.
I hear people say,
“Is this a salvation issue?”
I think this is
close to what
John is saying.
When and what sin
is a salvation issue?
Let’s dig deeper.
the fist part talks about
whether someone
Sees His Brother
Sees His Brother
committing a sin...
Let’s read it again:
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.
He is accountable to God?
The first point is
if you see one
of your fellow
brother or sister
making wrong choice
you are on the hook.
You cannot:
ignore it
pretend you didn’t see!
Brother’s Keeper
Like Cain,
we cannot
claim innocence with
these words:
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
Let us be clear,
You Are Your Brother’s Keeper!
Moving on...
Let’s get to
part of passage
that speaks of
Sin That Leads To Death
Sin That Leads To Death
vs.
Sin that DOES NOT
lead to death...
Let’s read it again:
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.
Two Types of Sin
Sin that Leads to Death
Sin that DOES NOT lead to Death.
What death are we
talking about here?
Temporal?
Eternal?
The Bible is clear:
Sin = Death
For the wages of sin is death...
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
These verses suggest
ALL SIN
leads to death.
But John talks about
sin that does not...
How can we
tell the difference
between these sins.
What Sin Leads To Death?
What Sin Leads To Death?
This question
is simple to answer:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we
confess
repent
that sin is
gone.
not held against us.
blotted out.
Therefore,
that sin did not lead to death.
The only sin
that leads to death
is the unpardonable sin...
which is the sin
left
unconfessed
unrepented.
Let’s go back to
our key passage.
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.
The main thought
of the passage is
actually about prayer
(not sin).
First question:
Who Is Praying?
Who Is Praying?
Who is praying
the sinner?
brother who saw?
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.
Who is he?
Who is asking?
Who is praying?
The one who is sinning?
The one who saw him sinning?
The answer is simple...
The passage is addressed
to the one who saw
the brother sinning.
This passage is
a call to pray
for one another’s
Spiritual Needs.
The final question is:
Who Deserves Our Prayers?
Who Deserves Our Prayers?
We are praying for
our fellow sinners.
But which sinners
should we pray for?
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.
Who should we
be praying for.
Those whose sin
does not lead to death.
Unconfessed
Unrepented.
How could we
possibly know
how sincere
fellow sinner is?
WE DON’T!
We can
tell tree
by fruit.
But we don’t know
when a person
hits bottom and
cries out to God.
We don’t know
when someone has
committed unpardonable sin.
Solution
keep praying for
all fellow sinners.
But we must be
honest with each other
about God’s conditions
for restoration.
Ministry of Healing The Care of the Sick
To those who desire prayer for their restoration to health, it should be made plain that the violation of God’s law, either natural or spiritual, is sin, and that in order for them to receive His blessing, sin must be confessed and forsaken.
During anointing,
we must be clear
there are conditions
for answered prayer.
We cannot
in good conscience
pray for God to heal a person
whose lifestyle of sin
created the problem
and they won’t surrender
that lifestyle.
Passage about paralyzed man.
Jesus forgives sins.
Instead of just healing.
Why?
Spiritual healing
Physical healing.
We are too focused on
physical
temporal
We need to celebrate
more frequently
spiritual healing!
Appeal
Appeal
Pray Boldly
Pray Persistently
Pray God’s Will
Pray for Each Other.
