Sermon Tone Analysis

1st John Sermon Series

GETTING BACK TO THE BASICS

Part 16

Praying with Confidence

Scripture: 1 John 5:13-21

Intro

We have been on a long journey through the Book of 1st John.

And through the journey we have had some remarkable revelations about God and our faith.

In the last couple months, we have studied the Word of God through the Letter that the Apostle John has written to the church and today we are ending our journey through First John.

If you have your Bible with you and I hope that you do.

Open it with me to the book of 1st John chapter 5.

If you are unfamiliar with 1st John just go to the last book in the Bible and work your way forward five books- Revelation- Jude- 3-2-1 John.

As you know, some difficulties spurred up in the 1st-century church, and I wish I could say that these letters squashed those problems.

Yet it is obvious today that we find similar issues within churches all across America today and even the world.

As you might remember, there were a group of people who were going against what was being taught by the Apostles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

John called them liars, non-believers, and Antichrists – today, they are termed as Gnostics and we know through our study that they believed that Jesus did not come in the flesh because anything physical was evil, which led them to believe that Jesus was a spirit rather than a man.

We have forms of Gnosticism in our world today through world religions.

We are aware of the falsehood behind such claims- but none the less in John's days, these people were creating problems within the Church.

The apostle John wrote to the believers in Asia Minor to set the record straight and taught that they had specific knowledge of Christ, but he also taught about the personhood of Jesus and the salvation that came from Christ.

He was vitally concerned that his "little children," where to know several things as they had come to faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

John then reveals what believers should know based on their faith and teachings of the Apostles.

1) We can know that we know God (2:3, 13, 14; 4:7).

2) We can know that we are in God (2:5).

3) We can know that it is the last hour (2:18).

4) We can know the Spirit of truth (2:21; 3:19).

5) We can know that Jesus is righteous (2:29).

6) We can know that we will be like Jesus (3:2).

7) We can know Jesus came as a man to take away the sins of mankind (3:5).

8) We can know that Jesus is sinless (3:5).

9) We can know that we have passed out of death into life (3:14).

10) We can know the love of the Son and the Father (3:16; 4:16).

11) We can know that God abides in us (3:24; 4:13).

12) We can know the Spirit of God (4:2).

13) We can know the discernment between the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error (4:6).

14) We can know that we love God's children (5:2)

15) We can know that we have eternal life (5:13).

Last week we said that we know that Jesus is the Son of God because of the testimony from heaven and earth.

John wants to remind us as children of God to know our faith is in a real God, who came to earth as a real person, as the Son of God, and that He brought eternal life to us and that if we believe in Him as our Savior, we possess this priceless gift of eternal life.

We can have confidence when it comes to our faith because WE KNOW IT TO BE TRUE.

Well, If you are there in the 5th chapter of 1 John, let's begin reading from the 13th verse.

This is the Word of God and it begins like this:

“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.

14 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.

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.

17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps 7 himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.

This is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Amen.”

WHICH BRINGS US TO OUR TAKE-HOME TRUTH TODAY:

THE TAKE HOME TRUTH IS:

IF WE ARE CONFIDENT IN GOD'S WILL, WE ARE CONFIDENT IN PRAYER.

Folks' prayer is the heart and soul of every successful relationship with God.

John has repeatedly given us these snippets of the truths about God and His Son, which should provide us with the confidence to live our lives of faith knowing that God is always right here for us, and He has His and our best interest in His heart.

Faith is about knowing that God's will prevails over the world's evilness and our lives.

Not just when we gather as the Church, not just when we speak of the assurance that testimonies give us, but also in prayer.

Here in our scripture today, John speaks about the confidence we are to have in our prayer to God and he reinforces it with his closing remarks of what we know about us and God.

We can come before God with great confidence knowing that he hears us.

We can do so because we know that our God wants the best for us.

We can trust His Word, we trust His character.

That word 'confidence' in this context means freedom of speech.

It means; we can come before our heavenly Father freely and tell Him our needs, wants, and desires.

John mentions a specific condition that must be met about those prayers.

Our prayers must be in line with His will and purposes for us (v 14).

You see, prayer is not a blank check in which you put your name, and your request is cash in.

Yet, we can boldly ask God to provide for us our daily bread because Jesus tells us to pray for it (Matthew 6:11).

John puts this condition in so that we understand not to waste time and energy praying for things that are not God's will.

God speaks through His Word, and He tells us there are things that we should be praying about and things that we cannot pray for.

We cannot pray about doing something, which is sinful and not in God's will.

And that is John's point.

So how can we be assured to pray in such a manner that God answers?

Our text today explains four steps that John gives us to be confident praying in God's will.

The First step to be confident prayer is:

WE ARE TO SUBMIT TO GOD

Look back at verse 13 with me:

"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."

You might be thinking that this is obvious, but it is not.

Because if it was so obvious, why would John spend so much time telling us about our salvation?

He mentions it six times in this letter.

John's heart of the letter is that he wants the people to know, and to be confident in salvation, God, and living a new spiritual life.

John writes about this throughout this letter is for those who know the name of Jesus Christ to receive eternal life.

We know that this is God's will, that people become a followers, disciples, believers of His one and only Son Jesus Christ.

And the only way that you can do that is to submit to Him, yield yourself, and give yourself to God.

To profess the name of Jesus is one thing, but for you to yield, to consume it into your heart is another.

The Bible Says in Ephesians 2-8

"For by grace, you have been saved through faith.

And this is not of your own doing, and it is the gift from God."

The Bible goes on to challenge people in James 2:19

"You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.

Good for you!

Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror".

Some people have professed Jesus as their Savior, but refuse to submit to Christ, they don't yield their lives to Him they are not devoted to Him.

Yet they cry out for God to intervene.

But the key of knowing God's will is to submit to Him.

Here is a Biblical illustration of this: it comes from the book of Matthew chapter 7:21 Jesus said these words: