Reassuring Truths for the Christian

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Reading 1 John 5:13-21 and the Sermon's Purpose

Sermon. Let's read John, 1st John chapter 5, the last few verses beginning in verse 13 to the end of the chapter. 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.

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's 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. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him.

We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true in His Son, Jesus Christ.

He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. In this world, in this fallen world that we live in, there are really only a few, if any, guarantees and certainties. We don't know what tomorrow holds for us.

The Proverbs tell us, do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring. Our lives are nothing but a breath really, a mist that vanishes. We're so limited in our knowledge. We do not know the the number of our days, whether we will live or die even an hour from now.

If and when we may lose a job and find a new one. Every aspect of our lives is affected by uncertainty. And so we have to make these backup plans that in things in case things don't work out the way we have planned them.

But these are merely just outward or we could say physical matters of course. On top of that we, more importantly to us Christians, we have difficulty with some of this when it comes to the spiritual as well.

In the midst of trials, it seems at times we are right there with the psalmist, right? We can cry out, how long O Lord? How long? Will you forget me forever? Have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me?

We can have our faith shaken at its core. And there are even in the world many who have made this their life's mission. Trying to debunk Christianity and to undermine our trust in the promises of God.

And so uncertainty can easily set in, can chip away at us. We begin to doubt the truths of Scripture. Of course our enemy attempts to sow doubt as well and tempts us with unbelief. And so at times we find ourselves asking, do I really have this eternal life?

Can I really be sure and fully trust in the work of Christ? Are really all of my sins forgiven? Does my Father, our Heavenly Father, really actually bother hearing our prayers? Or are we just speaking into the air with wishful thinking?

And so sometimes the blessings of God that we read of in the Scriptures fall on deaf ears and doubting hearts. Assurance can be low for us. The churches that John is writing to in this letter have experienced similar difficulties.

We've seen this already throughout the letter. We remember of course the false teaching of the secessionists that had come into these churches that John is writing to. They were advocating for the secret, this hidden knowledge, denied Christ really having come in the flesh, Him having only appeared.

So they were trying to deceive these believers and some even left the church. And so the confidence and faith of these believers was shaken. Certainty of the truth was being severely undermined. And so John over and over we see him write, you know or we know, reminding them of the truths of the Gospel.

And at the end of this letter as we come to it, he does not change his pattern. In fact, seven times he mentions, you know or we know in these last few verses. And he does not end with a final exhortation or doxology as we might know from the Apostle Paul.

But he ends with his purpose statement and some great encouragement for our assurance and perseverance as he summarizes the key truths of the faith. And so in first John we have this letter given to us for our comfort, to strengthen us, to remind us of the certainties of the faith.

Nothing else may be sure for us but these things spoken of here are guarantees given to us. So I want to look at four of these reassuring truths that we've been given here. We have the truth of the knowledge that we have eternal life, verse 13.

We have a knowledge that the Lord will answer our prayer, that he will hear, that he will answer. We have the knowledge that we have victory over sin and the evil one. And then lastly we have a true knowledge of the true God.

Assurance of Eternal Life in Christ

Firstly then let us look at the knowledge of eternal life in verse 13. 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. The Apostle begins the conclusion to his letter by for the first time really clearly stating his purpose for writing this letter.

And it fits quite well with his purpose statement in the Gospel of John, where you remember he had said at the second last chapter towards the end, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

And that by believing you may have life in his name. His gospel was written for men to believe and the epistle is written to assure those who do believe. Look what he writes. He says you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

His audience, those who believe in the name of the Son of God. But he's not talking simply to those who simply believe that there is a God or that can affirm one certain truth about Christ, perhaps that he has existed.

He's talking to those who actually put their trust in him. The word for believe there that he uses includes a faith aspect, an entrusting oneself to Christ and a reliance on him. Of course John already clarified that, what it means to believe in the Son of God.

We know that it involves an affirming that he is the Christ. That Jesus has come in the flesh. That he is the propitiation for our sins. The Savior of the world. And that those who believe on him are in fact children of God.

Christian, do you understand? It struck me when I looked at this. He is writing directly to you. That you may know that you have eternal life. This is not addressed to every man, woman, and child in the world.

We understand this so often we pass over this at the beginning of an epistle. Yes, it's written to the saint. It might not even be addressed to every person in this room. No, this is, this is a truth.

A letter of comfort, encouragement only to the children of God. Those who entrust their very souls to him. And isn't it beautiful child of God that you have a letter preserved from your heavenly Father.

From the one who is seated on the throne and robed in unapproachable light. Directly given to you with a purpose that you may know that you have eternal life. You see these false teachers were causing these problems.

Claiming this higher mystic elevated knowledge of things. But John as an eyewitness tasked with proclaiming what he had seen and heard says, I write that you may know. You see God is not holding anything back from us.

That is necessary for life and salvation. No, he's revealed everything we need to know. He didn't have to. He was under no obligation, but he chose to do so for the sake of his people. And knowing implies of course what?

Certainty. Eternal life is not only a hope or some sort of wishful thinking and maybe or a possibility. No, it is a certainty for you Christian. A guarantee. And you have it in the here and now. It began the moment you were saved and it will go on.

It will not end. Sure we will die. This outer body, this earthly tent will pass away. But what are we going to do? We're only going to exchange it for a heavenly dwelling. And so death for us. What is it but just a door that we walk through.

And through the true and the fullest expression of life. But why does John tell us this again? Over and over in this letter already. Even if we look at verses 11 and 12. He just mentioned that we have life.

That we have life in the Son. And that God has given us eternal life. So I repeat, well we are a forgetful people aren't we? Think about it. We've been given an ordinance to remember our Savior. If we can forget Him, how fast, how quickly do we lose sight of the fact that this is not all there is.

That heaven and earth will indeed one day pass away. We get so tied up in our earthly affairs. When every disappointment, every tear, every affliction will be one day done away with. And sin will be no more.

No more sinning against or being sinned against. Truly we'll experience life. Unhindered fullness of joy to sit at Christ's feet. To see Him face to face. But not only do we so often forget, we often doubt.

Because too often we look at ourselves don't we? I don't know about you, but when I look at myself all confidence disappears. And so at times it can seem that those who have really no grounds to believe that they will indeed have eternal life, have the greatest confidence in it.

I think they've earned it. They've outperformed their failures and sins. They presume on the kindness of God or that He would simply turn a blind eye to their sin. False converts or believers have often no fear of death at all.

Meanwhile many Christians seem to have the opposite experience. Those that have reason to be confident are terrified. Not sure though they believe on Christ all the days of their life that they will actually truly make it to heaven.

At times we're more inclined to believe in our own sinfulness than His power to save. And I mean you know who you were don't you? Your sinfulness, your rebellion. That you were not barely alive. No, you were really dead before you were saved.

Utterly, completely, definitely dead. There was no sign of life in you. Just a corpse, a dead cold corpse with a cold and hard heart of stone. And so the chasm between being dead and eternal life, being in the presence of God, face to face with Him, endless joy, fully sanctified, holy and blameless is so far on the opposite end.

It can be hard to believe. It's true. Christian, your Heavenly Father wants you to know that it is true. There are an infinite number of things we don't know. Many more that we cannot even know with certainty.

But the truth that you have eternal life in the Son is something you can take to the bank. Take comfort in it. And notice there's no mention of the strength of your faith. There is faith. But whether it is weak or strong today is independent.

Eternal life rather is independent of how you feel. You believe on Christ. You have life eternal. God does not lie to you. It is guaranteed and you can be most sure of it. The second truth that John gives us to reassure our hearts is the knowledge of answered prayer in verse 14 through 70.

Confidence in Prayer According to God's Will

We'll begin with 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.

You see though the fullness of fellowship with the Father is still awaiting us. We already have access to Him. Such an access that allows us to ask of Him. And we have confidence that He hears us. There's a boldness in our approaching Him through prayer.

It is with confidence that we draw near to the throne of grace, as the author of Hebrews puts it. We come as true children to the Father knowing that He hears. Let me tell you, He does not hear as man hears.

He's not distracted by something else, only catching half of what you may be saying or forgetting what you've said because His mind was drifting. No, He hears every word and every single one of your words.

But notice the important qualifier there as well. Verse 14, we ask according to what? His will. That's exactly what our Lord taught us, isn't it? In the Lord's prayer. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done. It is exactly like our Lord prayed in the garden. We just read it earlier. If it possible, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

And how good it was that the Father's will was done. Now there are some that actually suggest that prayer is, is a, is the bending of the Lord's will to ours. That we can make Him do what we want Him to do, what we think He, He needs to do.

Of course, that is a lie, as if we puny little creatures knew better than the omniscient, all-knowing Creator of the universe. Prayer gives us no power to manipulate God in any way. No, prayer is not bending.

It's not us bending God's will, or bending God's will to ours. But it is by faith, our submitting our will to His instead. It is our saying, Lord, you know best. Do what you will, because that is what we really need, and it's what is best for us.

It is submission to Him by faith. But how do we pray according to His will? Well, how do we know His will? Through the Scriptures. We have given, we've been given the revelation of Him. And so as we immerse ourselves in them, we more and more begin to know God's will, begin to pray according to it, and have our will conform to His.

There are many places we can find where we can learn how to pray. But if you'd allow me, I want to show you one. If we go to Colossians chapter one, the Apostle Paul often prayed for the churches he wrote to.

Just to be practical, maybe give you a place to start, to get an idea. Colossians 1 beginning verse 9 through 14. He writes, and so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints and light.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. What does it look like to pray according to God's will in this case?

To ask to be filled with the knowledge of His will, to seek His spiritual wisdom and understanding, His help, to walk in a manner that pleases Him, that is worthy of Him, that you might not bring a reproach unto Him, to be pleasing to Him, to bear fruit, that He would use you to advance the gospel and His kingdom for His strength, for His comfort, endurance, and patience.

Want to know how to pray according to His will? Immerse yourself in the Scriptures. Have your will conformed to His and then bring these truths to Him. Use your, use your own feeble words if they may seem like this to you.

Come to Him as a child to their Father. He will listen and He will hear and you can know, as verse 15 puts it back in 1st John 5, that we have the requests that we have asked of Him. To put it plainly and simply, He will answer you.

He will give you that which you ask for. If we who are evil, Christ says, give good things to our children. How much more will our Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? And so let me ask you this.

How confident are you really when you're praying? Do you approach Him with boldness? With the confidence that you know, you believe that He will truly hear you? That He will listen to every word? That He will give you an answer in His time?

Or is it some sort of magical wish? Sending of your desires up to the Lord, hoping they'll get there. You pray in faith, believing that God really gives you His ear. That He bends His ear to listen and gladly listen.

Brethren and sisters, prayer works. Prayers get answered. Now John goes on in verse 16 and 17. He gives us an interesting case of an example of how God answers prayer. And so he writes, 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's sin that leads to death. I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there's sin that does not lead to death. We've got a couple of very easy verses here. These are some of the most debated in all the New Testament.

There seem to be as many interpretations as there are commentaries. Let me give you a couple ideas that have been suggested by commentators and then we'll try to have a look at it and do some heavy lifting for a little bit and figure out what it actually means.

Some have suggested that John here is speaking about believers that commit a sin that does not lead to eternal death, but potentially to physical death. The sin leading to death is interpreted as perhaps the last sin that God would tolerate before punishing somebody with physical death.

You can think perhaps of Acts chapter 5 and Ananias and Sapphira, who you remember sold a piece of property, but held back some of the prophets and did not tell anybody and lied about it to the Holy Spirit.

And then Peter confronts them, rebukes them and they drop dead and are buried. Or perhaps 1 Corinthians 11, when Paul speaks about the Lord's Supper and warning us not to take it in an unworthy manner.

And he says, taking it in an unworthy manner is the very reason why some of them, some of the Corinthians, were sick and ill and weak and that some have even died. So that's one interpretation offered.

Another one suggests that it is some, John is referring to some sort of capital punishment where a believer commits a sin that would be punished by death. But if the brethren intercede, the Lord will grant him life, whether physical or spiritual.

Some have seen this as well as a distinction between sins committed intentionally and unintentionally. There are a few other ones, but let's, let's have a look at the actual text and do some of the work.

First, notice that in verse 16, John says, the one committing the sin is actually a brother. A person that as far as we can tell from the outside, without being able to see the heart, is a fellow Christian.

And that this person commits the sin that does not lead to death. Now the sin not leading to death, I believe, and as many, many reliable and trustworthy theologians, preachers as well, have suggested, is that this is more or less a Christian falling into a sort of sin that he will eventually end up repenting of.

In other words, it is a sin, any sin, besides the rejection of the gospel. Now how do we, how do we get that from the text? Because John doesn't even explain what these sins are. He just simply makes a statement that there is a sin that leads to death and one that doesn't.

He doesn't even elaborate. He's assuming that his readers actually know what he's talking about. And they would know about what he's talking about, if they would have read this letter. In other words, the context of the letter is going to help us.

And so sin leading to death, if you remember back to chapter 2 and verse 19, where Paul writes, they went out from us but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would not have continued with us.

But they went out that it might be complained that they are all not of us. And then just a couple verses down in 22 and 3, he addresses the denying that Jesus is the Christ, who is the liar. But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ, this is the Antichrist.

He who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Father, no one who denies the Son has the Father. And then again in chapter 4 later at the earlier verses, he encourages us not to believe every spirit and that we know the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

And then he says, whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. And so the sin that leads to death is a denial in the context of this book that Jesus is the Christ. That he has come in the flesh and that he is in fact the Son of God.

It's essentially what this group of people had believed and taught to the point that even some of the believers or supposed believers there had ended up believing the church. And so they will not be be saved because they willfully continually reject the true gospel.

Who Christ is, his atoning work and the outcome for them will be eternal death. And so in turn then the sin not leading to death is a sin that a Christian may fall into but he will not ultimately reject the gospel.

This person will confess and repent of it. But then there's a second half of verse 16 referring to the sin that leads to death where John adds, there's a sin that leads to death. I do not say that one should pray for that.

That does not make any make things easier. Is John telling us to pray not to pray for those who do not believe the gospel? Aren't we supposed to pray from believers because God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

He doesn't want any to perish. That could be possibly what John is referring to. There might be old testament warrant for this sort of thing. The prophet Jeremiah for example was told several times during his ministry to Israel not to pray for the people of Israel.

They have been so deep and in idolatry and had gone back to the sins of their forefathers provoking the Lord to anger by having made these offerings to Baal. And then the Lord said to his prophet in Jeremiah 7 16 and verse 18.

As for you do not pray for these people or lift up a cry or prayer for them and do not intercede with me for I will not hear you. Do you not see what they're doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven and they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. There are a couple other references.

You can look at them on your own time if you want in chapter 11 as well as in chapter 14. Chapter 11 verse 14 and chapter 14 verse 11. And so in regards to our text I I believe that this means that we simply do not have a guarantee as we have in praying for the believers that God will hear our prayers for those who have committed the sin of rejecting the gospel.

If the true Christian sins the Lord will hear us, will hear our intercession for him, grant our brother repentance and they will come return to the Lord. The difficulty that we have with this is that we do not know if a person has fully completely rejected the gospel, do we?

We can't see a person's heart. We do not have a hundred percent knowledge if that really is what's going on in their heart or whether they're simply backsliding for a period of time and will repent after a few years.

And so what do we do? What is what is John trying to encourage us to do here? What is he telling us? I think John makes clear the seriousness of sin. He warns us of its danger and tells us to pray. We know it's according to to God's will to pray for our brothers.

And so when we see somebody in church that is in sin, we pray for them. Yes, we talk to them. We rebuke them if necessary. But we always pray for them. We always lift them up to the throne of grace. And we can have confidence that if they are a Christian that the Lord will hear and that he will restore them.

You want to love the brethren as we have been encouraged all throughout this letter? Pray for them. Praying for them is truly the fulfilling of the command to love one another. And because we do not fully know who those are that will ultimately reject Christ, I suggest we'll pray for them as well.

Calvin on this, he puts it well much better than I ever could. He says, it is then right to determine sometimes whether the fallen is without hope or whether there's still a place for a remedy. He goes on.

He says, but as this very seldom happens and as God sets before us the infinite riches of his grace and bids us to be merciful to his own example, we ought not rashly conclude that anyone has brought on himself the judgment of eternal death.

On the contrary, love should dispose us to hope well. And so we pray for one another. We know the Lord will hear and restore. And we pray for those who seem to fall away because we do not truly know if they fall away.

Brothers and sisters, sin is serious. So let us pray because men's eternity depends on it. And then the third truth that John tells us about is that we have victory over sin and the devil. Verses 18 and 19.

Victory Over Sin and the Evil One

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning. But he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Again, John reiterates a theme that he previously already laid out for us. That those who are born of God do not keep on sinning. He's not talking here about some form of sinless perfectionism. That once we're saved, we'll never sin again.

No, he already made that clear. That we do sin. That we confess our sin. And that we have a mediator with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. What he's saying is that the regenerate. Those with a new heart.

Those who have passed from death to life do not continue in a pattern of unchecked, unrepentant, willful sin. And isn't it true that as children of God, we no longer have a will enslaved to sin? That we no longer want to satisfy every evil desire of the flesh.

We have a renewed will. A desire to be pleasing and useful to God. We delight now in obeying Him. We hate our sin. And we can't actually please God. We have been enabled to will and to do that which is pleasing to Him.

And those not born of God have no such desire. They're completely enslaved to sin. They love it. They search it out. They make plans to sin. To the degree that it is even shameful for us to speak of the things that are being done in secret.

But then at times as Christians, we feel like we're somewhere in the middle. We truly want to please the Lord. We want to obey Him. But we're so aware of our sin, aren't we? Some of them seem so persistent.

It's so hard to shake them. To really kill them. And we can get this sense of utter defeat. Disgust with ourselves. It seems the sin has such a tight grip on our heart that we cannot possibly ever escape it.

Brothers and sisters, don't despair. There is hope. There is forgiveness for you. Christ is still willing to receive and forgive. If you confess, He will forgive and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

Never stop running to Him. Take heart. By the power of the gospel, you can persevere. Because as the second half of verse 18 tells us, He who was born of God protects him. And the evil one does not touch him.

Some of your translations might say, He who was born of God keeps himself. The difference there largely depends on how one interprets the He who was born of God immediately prior to keeping Him. Whether it refers to a believer or to Christ.

The question is, is the believer keeping himself or is Christ keeping the believer? Certainly we can affirm in some sense that the believer keeps himself. A Christian is to keep himself pure, as Paul writes in 1st Timothy.

Unstained from the world and in the love of God. However, I believe this is a reference to Christ. Now I grant John nowhere refers to Christ directly as He who was born of God. But he does refer to Him as the only Son of the Father who was made manifest in the flesh.

And the one doing the protecting here does so in a way that the evil, evil one cannot touch the person being protected. We're talking about a literal gripping or clinging to that person. The evil one cannot get a grip on you Christian.

Because the good shepherd will protect his flock. And he will lose nothing of all that the Father has given him. But he will raise it up on the last day. Of those that are given him, he will truly lose none.

Just like he guarded and kept the apostles, he keeps you. 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse 3 says, but the Lord is faithful. He will establish and guard you against the evil one. And that is why you can have hope and persevere in your fight against your sin.

Because your Savior continues to keep you. The enemy no longer has the ability to get a lasting grip on you. This does not mean that we will never be tempted. That he will not stop shooting his fiery darts at you.

And then you don't have to resist him. But he cannot ultimately pull you away from your Savior. And are we so keenly aware that if it was truly us keeping ourselves, it would take less than a second for us to fall away.

To return to the clutches of the enemy. But because of Christ, this cannot happen to you. He will raise you up on that last day. But not only can the enemy not touch us. Verse 19 tells us that we are of a completely different world.

The whole world is under the power of the devil. It is hostile to God as well as his people. It follows the power of the prince of the air. There are really only two types of people. Those who are the children of God and those who are children of Satan.

But once, at one point in time, we too were part of that world, weren't we? When we were of the devil. Unwilling, incapable of leaving it behind. Loving, unrighteousness. But that is until by the grace of God, He transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son.

Because we are born of God. Not by our doing, but by His. And we know that we are from God. We have a new owner, a new master, a new father. Do you see how God, as a God of comfort in these truths. Not only in our physical trials and afflictions, but in our doubts.

In our times of weak faith. He hasn't just proclaimed a truth to us and leaves us, abandons us to wrestle with. He wants you to know that you are really His. As I thought about this, I think this is sometimes, this might be one of these cases where we're so well aware of this truth, that we're in danger that it has no longer any effect on us.

Think on it. We were part of this world. Blinded minds at war with our Creator. We're enslaved to it. Sons of disobedience having no hope. We were part of a twisted and crooked generation. From the day we were born, the only thing we worshiped is self.

And then it is into this very world, so hostile and opposed to God, that the Father sent His only Son. To redeem you, to purchase you, to get you out of this world and bring you into His kingdom. To make you one of His children.

Knowing very well the cost. And He wants you to know that. He wants you to be sure of that. To believe it and to take comfort in it. God is saying, know this. In Christ you really are mine and no one else's anymore.

We have a God that is a God of all comfort. Lastly, John reassures us with our knowledge of the true God in verses 20 and 21. He writes,. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true.