"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before 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 which we have asked from Him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that 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. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols."
Prayer is both a privilege and an obligation. However, I must say, sometimes I feel like my averages for answered prayers isn't all that good. I have prayed for years for the salvation of people who have not gotten saved. I have prayed for sinning Christians to be reconciled, who have not repented and been restored. I have prayed for the reconciliation of broken marriages and estranged families, will absolutely no avail. I have prayed for healing for those who were sick and suffering, who have passed away. And yet, I know that God hears my prayers and if God can transform my life, He has the power to do anything.
Yet, there are times that no matter how long, how hard, how often you pray, some prayers just don't seem to receive a response. Times when you ask yourself, "God, are you listening?" I don't know if any of you have ever felt that way. No one really seems to talk about these kinds of things, especially a pastor. We all seem to have our programmed cliché terms, like "Too blessed to be stressed" or "God allows everything for a purpose." And let's not forget, "If God closes a door, He'll open a window."
If God promises to answer our prayers, then surely He has the power to answer them! When we pray, we go through a litany of things we'd like God to do. After all, Scripture tells us to make our requests known before Him. God acts in response to prayer. Then, it occurred to me, sometimes, there are no appropriate words, so rather than speak, we just need to be quite and listen.
Ironically, I have not been able to find any preachers who admit to having this problem. Perhaps, they simply don't want to expose their own failures in prayer. I confess, as a pastor, it can be quite discouraging, especially praying for the needs of so many. However, it is my prayer that by sharing my personal struggles, you will be motivated to not give up and keep praying. I want you to know that God hasn’t forgotten about you or abandoned you Prayer is not optional for God’s children. It is absolutely essential.
As followers of Christ, if we truly want to connect with people, we must be genuine and express ourselves authentically. In order for people people to see Jesus in us, people need to see that we are real and that we genuinely care.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for blessing me with the faith to always believe in Your promises and amazing power. Thank You for reminding me of the countless examples of answered prayers. Lord, I pray that You would remove anything that separates these precious souls receiving this message from You. That they may truly know You, as I do, Who is the source from which the answer to their prayers will come. Thank You for granting us access to You and all of Your resources through Christ and prayer. May our prayers be aligned with Your heart and will.
Father, I pray for those who are walking according to the course of this fallen world, who walk in the lusts of their flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh, that You would have mercy on them, provide them with the necessary grace, touch their hearts, open their eyes and ears, that today they might hear and receive the truth, leading them to salvation through Christ. It is my prayer that they might be saved.
May it all be for Your glory and for Christ's sake
In His name we pray
Amen
Today's Message: Walking In The Light
Prayer is not just mumbling through a list or a habitual repetition some prayer we've learned. Prayer is coming before the One true living God, humbling ourselves in
His presence. If we have not come before God, we haven’t prayed. Our confidence in prayer is not in ourselves, but in Jesus Christ, Whose death and resurrection grants us access to the very throne of God.
Open with me your Bibles to I John chapter 5. In our ongoing study, we come to the conclusion to this great epistle, which, if you will recall runs through verses 13 to 21.Last time, we left off at verse 15, so we'll pick back up there and go on from there.
I will re-read to you these finals eight verses, to set the text in our minds, while we pray our hearts for what the Spirit is saying to us. Listen for the voice of our Lord. I John 5:13-21.
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before 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 which we have asked from Him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that 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. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols."
Let's pick up at verses 16-17, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death."
Last time, John, in verse 15 said "And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him." Here, John gives us this little caveat. That though we have an access to all of God’s resources through prayer, God will
hear your prayer and answer your prayer unless you’re praying for
someone to be restored or to be healed and it is a sin that they have
committed unto death, and God will not answer that prayer.
John is illustrating that when you pray according to God’s will, you can have confidence, knowing that He will answer, unless it falls into divine judgment, where God really is unable to answer. In other words, He hears, He answers, and we have what we ask that is His will. That's the main point.
If something is not in His will, by the way, it is not in His will to deliver someone from death who has committed a sin that in God’s judgment leads to death. Only God knows what that sin is. This would certainly be the case if you are praying for the salvation of someone who commits a sin of apostasy and it’s too late. That could well be the straw that broke the camel’s back in the continuing disobedience of someone who was once a believer.
But apart from that which is outside of His will, we know for certain that we have answered prayer. We know that we presently have whatever we have asked in accord with His will. I do not recommend to pray for your will to be done as opposed to God’s will. That would be asking God to abdicate His sovereignty and submit to you as sovereign! If anything could happen outside of His will, then He would not be sovereign.
Sometimes, in His divine purpose and infinite wisdom, God delays the answers to our prayers. Other times, there may be extenuating circumstances unbeknown to us, that makes our requests outside of His will, and falls under His divine judgment. We must remember, that biblical prayer is not trying to talk God into giving us what we want. Rather, it is submitting our will to His will. The emphasis is on God's will, not our own. We can discern God’s will through the Scriptures and pray accordingly. Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of God's willingness to answer us.
Jesus said in Matthew 6, "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."
The secret of victory, then, is keeping our requests within God's will. Notice that John does not say that we will necessarily receive that which we prayed for but that God responds to our requests. In my experience, when God does not grant what I've prayed for, its either because I am not ready to receive it or He has something far better in store. God has three answers to prayer: yes, no, and not now. More often than not He says,"Not now."
Back to the issue of sin, a Christian cannot habitually live in violation of God’s law. Sin is incompatible with the law of God. Sin is incompatible with the work of Jesus Christ.
Now we’re going to look at verses 18 through 21. John, being consistent with the purpose for writing, sums up his epistle with a review.
"We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that 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. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols."
Notice verse 18, 19 and 20, "We know," we know," we know." The summation of why John wrote his epistle, is so that we might know. First, that we may know that we have eternal life. If you remember, he addressed this back in verse 13. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." The Lord wants us to be certain that we know that. That we know that we will have eternal life.
Secondly, in verses 14-15, "This is the confidence which we have before 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 which we have asked from Him."
John wants us to know that not only know we have eternal life, but that we know our prayers will answered, because we have direct access to the throne of God, until we enter into eternal glory.
Then, in verse 16, he said, " If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this." He wants us to know that God will answer your prayer unless you’re praying outside His will.
In verse 17, John tells us that "All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death."
We are living proof of this verse, aren't we. "There is a sin not leading to death." Since we have all sinned, God could have struck us down. Obviously, in God’s divine purpose and plan, He has not seen our sin as requiring removal for the good of the church.
I have to admit, there are times when I under David wanting to help God make that decision. When I hear someone misrepresenting Christ, or desecrating His name. If you remember, that’s what caused David to pray the imprecatory Psalms. In case you are unfamiliar, the imprecatory Psalms invoke judgment, or curses upon one's enemies or the perceived enemies of God. Psalm 69 and Psalm 109 are two such imprecatory psalms.
Isn't is wonderful to know that the mercy and grace of God are blended together with His infinite wisdom and purpose, that His decision to kill people is not whimsical.
Now, that we're finished that our review, back to verse 18, "We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him." Here, John is saying we know we have victory over sin. No one who is transformed, no one who is regenerated goes on in the same unbroken, habitual pattern of sin.
Because the unregenerate are dead in their sin, they do nothing but sin. They are the sons of disobedience. There is no good in them, the spirit of prince of the power of the air is working in them. That is to say, they trample on God's Law, because they are the servants of unrighteousness. They are in constant rebellion against God. Because of their sin and rebellion, they are headed for the wrath of God. Until men are born of God, they are slaves to sin and slaves to Satan! If you want to know if someone is a Christian, examine their life! If there is an ongoing pattern of sin in their life, they have not been born of God because sin is incompatible with God and the work of Christ.
Verse 19, "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."
We don’t sin because we’ve been born again and given new life that’s characterized by righteousness. That's not to say that we never sin, but there is no ongoing habitual pattern of repeated sin. Christ keeps us from that old pattern so that the evil one doesn't touch us. Satan no longer has power over us. The One born of God keeps us from falling back into sins dominion. This is the work of Christ who holds us. There’s going to be sin but it’s not habitual. We were saved by His power, and if He could save us when we were enemies, surely He can keep us now that we’re His own.
In John 17:11, Jesus prayed "I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are."
Since this is what the Son prays for, who could successfully be against us? That's why Paul says in Romans 8:31, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
Then, in verse 20, "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. This is the true God and eternal life."
The word "and" is literally a mild adversative particle, contrasting the blind
indifference of the world with the new understanding of the
believer. This is just the essence of what it means to be a Christian, to have
understanding, to know Him who is true, the true and living God as
revealed in Jesus Christ. We know Him, because the Son of God has come and has given us understanding in order that we might know Him who is true. That's a great Christological statement! There is no salvation apart from Christ.This is the heart of all Christian theology.
Notice that he uses the word "true," three times in that one verse, that because it’s essential that people understand the truth against the lies of Satan. We know Him who is true, we are in Him who is true. This is the One true God. We dwell in God through Jesus Christ. This is one of the strongest direct statements of the deity of Christ in the New Testament.
At first glance, verse 21 may seem out of context, I believe that because John has just mentioned the true God, this undoubtedly brought the false god of the heretics to mind. "Little children, guard yourselves from idols." Since you know the true God, don’t allow anything apart from Christ to influence you, so stay away from idols.
Ephesus was the center of idolatry, where John sent this letter.If you remember, in Acts 19, silversmiths made a good living making statues of the pagan goddess Diana, or Artemis. The temple of Artemis, or Diana, was supported by 127 Ionic columns, each towering 60 feet tall and was around 425 feet by 250 feet. Hundreds of people lived off the temple trade.
In John chapter 4, our Lord made it very clear, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and
truth." Therefore, any form of bowing before statues or pictures of Jesus or the
saints is a violation of biblical worship. However, if you go into the Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox church and you will see people praying to statues, which is idolatry!
In Closing..
Idolaters make up their own gods, in order to suit their desires They obviously do not submit to the God of the Bible, who has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Any church worshiping a "Jesus" of their own imagination and liking, is not the Jesus revealed by God in the Bible! The idolater wants to worship a false god his way, even if it is a representation of Jesus.
Tragically, many who claim to be born again Christians are only looking to have God fulfill their wants and desires. And, if He brings trials, they quickly move a new "god." Plain and simple, that's idolatry!
It is out of our personal relationship with the One true living God that we come to know with assurance certain things in the Christian life. Look at it this way, if it can be taken from you, it isn’t the true God! If you know the One true living God and His Son Jesus Christ, guard it carefully, for you truly have a treasure, something valuable that the enemy is trying to steal. We are not holding on to God, He is holding on to us.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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