Final Words

Intro: It’s often the case that when I’m in a sermon series that all of the sudden it comes to a screeching halt—the end seems to sneak up on us and we come to the final words.

Sometimes that happens in relationships. It may be through departure, or even death: we hear the final words of someone close to us.

So here we are at the end of 1 John; here we are left with these final words.

Really two final reminders: prayer and watchfulness

Last message we ended with v13—in some sense it’s transitional. It could have just as easily went with this message.

It gives us the main theme (and reason) John picked up pen and parchment: assurance.

Q: But what is the practical outworking of assurance? Is it to kick back and live spiritually at ease? Does it give permission to coast, be on cruse control?

IF we think that way, then we do not understand Christian assurance.

-Assurance does produce some vital things in our lives that these final words draw our attention to.

Big Idea:

The life of assurance is a life of prayer and watchfulness, lived out within the commitment of a church.

—Prayer

—Watchfulness

—The church

*These all flow from assurances and help in perseverance

A life of assurance is lived in prayerful confidence (14-17)

The first word in v14 is small but important: and; it connects v13-14. It connects assurance with prayer.

It’s not an overstatement to say that confidence in prayer is THE mark of assurance;—prayer the sign of someone who really knows God; confidence in prayer sets apart people who know God and those who don’t

Ephesians 3:12 ESV

in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

(that’s not deny that hypocrites can fake prayer, Jesus warned about that—

Yet at the end of a day a child of God has a certain confidence that when they call out to God in prayer, he really hears!)

There is a certain freedom that believers have in knowing we can openly talk to God, share what is on our heart.

The word confidence is the same word Hebrews uses

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

—A life of assurance is lived in prayerful confidence

Yet, our prayer needs to be centered on the right things: (16-17) “according to his will” —we recall the words of the Lord Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer

It’s a repeat of 1 John 3:22

Apply: SO it’s not just our sincerity; It’s not like Jesus giving a gift card for everything on your Amazon wish list to be yours

The Lord hears and answers prayer 1) According to his will/sovereignty. 2) According to our abiding

John 15:7 ESV

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

*prayer is not just a blank check;—there is a condition: abiding in Christ.

Apply: This helps us to avoid the trap of thinking prayer is something purely mechanical. That God is like a depersonalized vending machine.

Prayer is deeply personal, rooted in our abiding in Christ—

Prayer also needs to come with the right motives, the right heart

James 4:3 ESV

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Or the reality of Ps 66:18

Psalm 66:18 ESV

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Now in v16 there is a specific example of prayer that fits God’s will—prayer when someone is in spiritual danger.

The fact that this is “seen” (v16), means it’s observable—clear not attacking someones motives.

Dennis quoted Ryle Wed night:

“He loves me best who love me in his prayers” —J.C. Ryle

Apply: How often do you pray for that? Prayer requests multiply when there is physical danger. But how about someone who is in spiritual danger?

Now the big question: what is the sin that leads to death (v16), that John the Apostle even discourages prayer for?

It’s a bit ambiguous

Sin Unto Death options:

Some specific sin that carries deadly consequences—(eg. Annias and Sapphira, Acts 5,)

2. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—unforgivable sin (Mt 12:32)

3. Rejection of the gospel—apostasy (Heb 6:4-6)

And I’ll add a fourth: False teachers/false teaching.

A couple of other NT passages warns against the deadly consequences of gospel-denying teaching

1 Timothy 4:16 ESV

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

James 3:1 ESV

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

This seems to fit with the burden of this letter (1 John 2:19)

**Teaching that denies the gospel—that distorts the person of Christ…is deadly.

I’m not certain if this comes with the force of a command; It’s not forbidding you to pray.... more like “don’t waste you are time on that”

Let’s remember—there are times when servants of God are told not to pray

Jeremiah 7:16 ESV

“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.

Apply: Who to pray for and when to stop praying takes discernment and care. But it’s also realistic. I only have so much margin in life to pray. We all have only have so much bandwidth. When I see that some well know Christian leader publically renounces their faith; what do I do with all the rank heretics out there— do I need to drop to my knees, beg and pea earnestly? Or do I spend my time begging for the souls entrusted to me—in my home, those I’m discipling?

Sum/Apply: The life of assurance is a lived out in prayerful confidence. It should utterly amaze us that God would allow…even desire us to come into his presence boldly and in confidence!

Does “prayerful confidence” describe the posture of your prayer life? If not, why?:

—lack of assurance

—not abiding

—hidden/unconfessed sin

—wrong motives

—praying for the wrong things

—spending time prayer for the wrong things

May we live in the reality of a prayerful confidence

A life of assurance is lived in constant watchfulness (18-21)

Watchfulness. It’s not a word we hear enough in the church. Try to find modern Christian authors who write on the theme. The Puritans did a much better job

Watchful. Take care. Be careful—those are words you will find over and over

Apply: Watchfulness is also a sign of humility. We know we are weak, frail, and have the potential to fall.

Watch that your life is not characterized by sin (18a)

Know the Jesus is watching over you (18b)

“He who was born of God protects him” —the question is: who is He who was born of God?

It could refer to another believe who offers the protection through prayer; or it could refer to Jesus as God’s only begotten Son.

A few times we see Jesus keeps disciples safe

John 10:28 ESV

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

If you are in Christ, you have a strong protector! Jesus is constantly watchful over us!

There is a final verse on the who: the Center of the Letter, an our faith: The Lord Jesus

One statement stands out: He is the true God

**The One who watches you is nothing less than the True God.

This also helps us to hear the very final word—it brings everything into the context of worship

*Worship is at stake! Everything rises or falls on worship

Seeing the Lord Jesus

3. Watch for lethal idolatry (v21)

The concluding verse of this letter is essential.

The threat of idolatry is not something that only is a problem if your neighbor has a totem pole in his back yard. Functional idols are all around us.

—An idol is anything that take the place of God in our heart

—Any “God-substitue”

Apply: The main reasons I value biblical counseling is one, because it’s biblical and comes with authority—but also because biblical counseling seeks to unmask idolatry.

A good biblical counselor asks: What do you really crave, desire, live for? What motivates you the most?

What make you elated when you have it, and crushed when it’s not there?

Those are just a few Q’s to unmask the idols.

We can be tempted to make a god in our image- image a god who relates to us on our terms, instead of his.

David Jackman:

“Keep yourselves from idols. Anything that squeezes God out of the central position towards the margin of my life must be ruthlessly toppled.

Any notion of God which contradicts his perfect self-revelation in Jesus Christ must be rejected”

Jackman, D. (1988). The message of John’s letters: living in the love of God (p. 172). .

Keep yourselves from idols. Be ready to ruthlessly topple and reject anything that comes between you, and the True God Jesus Christ.

A life of assurance is lived out in the context of the church

You many wonder where this is coming from, since the word “church” is not even in this passage; matter of fact, church is not in the entire letter…and we’ve already finished the last verse!

It’s implied in v16 “brother” —

That’s not your physical sibling, but brother in Christ

It’s also at he heart of one of the reasons John picked up pen to write (1 Jn 2:19)

This is definitely a letter written to a church..because of how vital the church is to our spiritual life

Last week I had on one of the Christian radio station and the early morning talk show came on—usually I don’t listen—but a question came up that drew my attention. The hosts asked callers a question “How important is the church in your spiritual life?”

The first caller nailed it: The church is essential. It’s vitally important.

The second caller was a bit more wishy-washy. “It’s important, but not the only way to experience God.”

Sadly, I think the second caller catches the spirit of many American Christians.

Pastor Kevin DeYoung in a recent high school graduation speech to talked about “The Most Important Decision You Will Make”

—What is that? What major? Trade route, military? Where to go to school? What will you do with your life?

Challenging those who will likely be at college freshman in the Fall:

“Of all the decisions you’ll face this year, the most important one may be whether you get up and go to church on the very first Sunday when no one is there to make sure that you go to church”

Quoting Stott: “An unchurched Christian is “grotesque anomaly” (trans USA: disgusting weirdo)

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/the-most-important-decision-youre-probably-not-thinking-about/

Apply: Children and youth. Someone recently remarked again how TRB has a lot of kids. What a blessing! Hey guys, if you are still under your parents roof—there will come a day when dad and mom don’t say: let’s go to church. It will be your decision.

—The most important decision is to get up and go to church; to commit to church. You may not see the immediate results in your life—

Don’t be a grotesque anomaly

Final word: Stay commited to the church, stay close to Christ.

No, going to church does not make a person a Christian any more than my wedding ring makes me a husband.

But, it very very rare to find someone who is close to Christ, who does not have a deep and abiding commitment to the church.

Stay commited, stay close.