[0:00] You should know a little bit about me before I dive into this sermon. I lost my hair. This goes back a ways.
[0:11] It's still kind of fresh. But I lost my hair and I also compensated by buying a motorcycle. And now I'm losing the motorcycle.
[0:24] So it's for sale. Anybody wants to buy a 2010 Kawasaki Vulcan Voyager 1700? It's in great condition. 63,000 kilometers. Great price. 7,500.
[0:34] Talk to me after. But I feel like in the process of losing my motorcycle, I'm losing the last little bit of manliness I had. First my hair, then my motorcycle.
[0:46] Isn't it crazy? I'm being funny. But isn't it crazy the things that we put our confidence in? I used to be slim. Well, needless to say, I've lost more confidence.
[0:58] And I looked on Google. I Googled the word self-confidence to see what Google would tell me in all its wisdom. And Google told me that self-confidence is self-assurance in one's personal judgment, ability, and power, and so on.
[1:12] But you know the way Google works nowadays. You Google something and it gives you a YouTube reference and some magazine articles or something and a definition and some pictures and all. It's all laid out there for you like a menu of things to choose from.
[1:25] One of those things was a cartoon when I Googled self-confidence. And that cartoon had two frames on left and right. And on the left was a very sad-looking man who was bald.
[1:37] Can you imagine what was on the right? There was a happy, confident-looking man who had lots and lots of hair.
[1:53] Self-confidence. One of those results in Google suggested that self-confidence is what one young model and actress would like to see taught in every school so that kids learn about self-confidence because she said it's the only way to be happy.
[2:10] I'm in terrible trouble in that case. Self-confidence is interesting. Confidence. What do we place our confidence in?
[2:23] As I was driving here this morning and stopped at a gas station, there was a young man with a brand-new shiny motorcycle. And he looked pretty confident. And as he got on his motorcycle and he'd finished paying for the gas and filling up with gas and all that stuff, and he got back onto his motorcycle and he hit the switch and it started up, and he kind of glanced over at me and he went to take off and he stalled the bike.
[2:47] It's interesting what you place your confidence in. Sometimes it's reliable, sometimes it's not reliable. But what you place your ultimate confidence in says a lot about your faith.
[2:59] Let me just make a statement about the obvious. Everyone has faith. Everyone has faith. Faith is not the problem.
[3:12] Lack of faith is not the problem. The problem is in what do we put our faith? If we can understand the biblical words for confidence or rather for faith in the New Testament, the Greek word is derived from pistis, the word pistis and all its other forms.
[3:28] And the New Testament idea for faith has a lot to do with confidence. Where you put your confidence, what you depend on or rely on or trust in. I did a funeral a few weeks ago and I have another one this coming week.
[3:45] Both for believers who died well, confident in Jesus Christ. Praise God for that. But both of them struggled through months and months of decline before they died.
[3:57] And let me say this, that no amount of self-confidence, the way Google or Wikipedia defined it, self-assurance in one's personal judgment, ability, power, etc.
[4:10] No amount of confidence in the way that actress defined it. That which can make you truly happy. No amount of self-confidence would have saved my friend Dave or my friend Angela from the death that was inevitable at that time.
[4:27] As their bodies failed them, as their strength and their vitality ebbed as cancer took over. Self-confidence was not going to save them from dying, was it?
[4:40] So then, what's the point of self-confidence? If it can't save you, is it really reliable? Is it worthy of putting your confidence in yourself?
[4:54] I think it's an idol in our culture, isn't it? And if we define idol, it's a Bible word. But if we take that Bible word that usually refers to things like actual statues that people worship, and we understand that as a living symbol.
[5:11] We understand that we all have idols. We all put confidence in things. Sometimes it's our own self-image. Sometimes it's our power or ability. Sometimes it's something else entirely that we trust in, that we rely in to make us happy, to make us feel secure, to make us feel satisfied, to give us pleasure, to give us a sense of meaning or purpose.
[5:31] Don't we rely on all kinds of idols all the time? At the end of this passage in verse 21, the elderly apostle John, writing very near the end of the first century, probably the last living apostle, he says, little children, keep yourselves from idols.
[6:01] My theme this morning is from this passage, verse 13 to 21 in 1 John chapter 5. My theme is that the only true confidence for prayer and for perseverance and for purity is confidence in Jesus Christ.
[6:23] As John came to the end of this letter, he wrote these last eight verses to summarize the difference that Christ-centered confidence can make in the lives of those who believe.
[6:36] So what this passage, therefore, can give you, if you're looking to get something this morning from God's word, and I hope you are, otherwise I don't know why you would come to church, but if you're looking to get something from God's word this morning, to have God speak to you, then I believe this passage, as John intended it, can give you assurance.
[6:59] Assurance in answer to some very common Christian worries and doubts. And these worries and doubts, I've put them in the form of four questions. What if you're not sure you're saved?
[7:16] What if you're not sure God will even answer your prayers? What if you're worried a fellow believer will fall? And fourth, what if you're worried that you yourself will fall to sin, never to rise?
[7:36] So my first point is that true confidence is only in Jesus Christ. And it's an answer to a question I think that most of us have wrestled with. What if we're not sure we're saved?
[7:47] What if you aren't sure you are saved? Would you look with me at verse 13? Again, in chapter 5 of 1 John. I write these things to you who believe.
[8:02] Let me start again. 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.
[8:19] I write what? I write these things, John said. Did you see that? I write these things. What things?
[8:30] At least, well, John could be referring to the whole book of 1 John. And in a sense, I think that's true. But I think in specific, in particular, he's referring to the last 12 verses.
[8:41] 1 John 5, 1 to 12. The 12 verses right before verse 13 that I just read. So I write these things using that pronoun. If you like grammar. Who loves grammar?
[8:52] Anyone? Yes. Okay. That's wonderful. Let's have a support group later or something like that. But this is a near demonstrative pronoun as we see it in the ESV.
[9:02] And I write these things to you. Verses 1 to 12. What things did he write in verses 1 to 12? In these verses, he gave us a series of assurance-building truths.
[9:16] And if we look back to verse 1, the first one is kind of shocking. It's a wonderful truth that he gives us in verse 1. It just reads simply, Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.
[9:34] That's quite spectacular. Now, that doesn't mean if you believe Jesus had the name Christ. Or if people called Jesus the Christ. It's very specific what he means there.
[9:45] If you believe that Jesus is the Christ. Promised by the Old Testament scriptures. The Messiah. The anointed one that God had said he would one day send. If you believe Jesus is that Christ.
[9:58] And you believe. Like you put your confidence in that truth. That he is that one. It means you are born again of God. What a promise. Doesn't that right away already.
[10:10] Don't you feel your assurance as a believer in Christ. Your assurance already starting to grow stronger. It's an assurance-building truth that he gives us in verse 1. And in the next 11 verses, he just piles them up.
[10:23] Assurance-building truth after assurance-building truth after assurance-building truth. Until verse 13.
[10:38] Promises. If you believe in Jesus like verses 1 to 12 describe. Then you can know for sure. You are going to live forever.
[10:51] Look at it again with me 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. These verses don't give any assurance whatsoever to a lot of people who think they are Christians.
[11:14] Because the kind of faith or the kind of belief or the kind of confidence described here is a specific kind of confidence.
[11:27] It's a specific kind of personal response to the promises we find in the Bible. Verse 1 is talking about the fact that Jesus is the Christ.
[11:42] That Jesus is the fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. The Hebrew word is Messiah. The Greek word is Christ. So it's the same thing. If you believe that Jesus is that one.
[11:54] Verse 1 has an assurance-building truth for you to receive. To trust and to count on. Verse 4. In chapter 5. Verse 4 talks about the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.
[12:09] Because the Bible says that he is the Son of God. He is that one the Bible promised. Verse 10 therefore says, If you don't believe what God has testified in the Bible about Jesus the Christ.
[12:21] Jesus the Son of God himself. If you don't believe what God has said about him. About Jesus. You're calling God a liar. In verse 10.
[12:35] And this is so different. This kind of faith. That believes what God has said about his Son. And puts all your confidence in the fact that it's true.
[12:46] This kind of faith is so different, isn't it? From that loosey-goosey kind of faith. The loosey-goosey kind of faith that doesn't even seem to depend on what the Bible says at all.
[13:00] The loosey-goosey kind of faith that really is more about, Well, what do I feel today? Do I feel like Jesus is the Christ? Or the loosey-goosey kind of faith that just says, You know, just trust something.
[13:12] Just reach out with your spirit and just, You know, just be positive. Everybody has faith. The real question is whether we're putting our confidence in idols or in Jesus Christ.
[13:26] That's the question. The loosey-goosey kind of faith that we find in a lot of people, and a lot of people who call themselves Christians, often takes the form more of like, Well, I believe I'm a Christian because when I was at camp, as a teenager, and we all sat around the fire, and everybody started crying as testimonies were shared, I rededicated my life to Jesus at that time.
[13:49] I did it ten times, just to be sure. I think I'm talking about myself. But the loosey-goosey kind of faith says, I believe I'm saved because I think I said the prayer right one of those ten times.
[14:02] Or the loosey-goosey kind of faith says, I believe I'm a Christian because I know a lot about the Bible, and I'm absolutely sure I'm right. Or the loosey-goosey kind of faith says, I believe for sure that I have eternal life because everybody else in my family is sure, and everybody in my church is sure that I'm one of them, so I must be.
[14:25] The way you feel in your gut, or the good works that you do, or however many times you said that prayer at Bible camp, has nothing to do with whether or not you are saved.
[14:43] The only thing that matters to answer the question whether or not you are saved is where is your confidence? Is it in what God has said about his son, Jesus the Christ, the son of God, and that it's true?
[15:06] Verses 1 to 12 were written to assure you, to give you assurance building truths. And if you believe Jesus like that, verse 13 says, you can know that you have eternal life.
[15:25] The second point in this sermon is that confidence in Jesus changes the way we pray. There are some assurance building truths in the first 12 verses, and then there are some benefits of this kind of assurance in the next few verses.
[15:43] Confidence in Jesus changes the way we pray. And you can tell the difference between sort of flimsy faith and real believing, real belief.
[15:55] Look at verse 13. He says, I'm writing these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God. You can tell the difference between flimsy faith and real firm faith by the way a person prays.
[16:12] What if you're not sure that God will answer your prayers? Just a sort of a, let me take a quick poll of the congregation.
[16:24] If you weren't sure if God would answer your prayers, would you be more or less likely to pray? All for less?
[16:36] Okay, I think that's decided. We won't even ask the second part of the question. You can tell the difference between flimsy faith and firm faith by prayer in a person's life.
[16:49] It's interesting to me that so many people who claim to be Christians, their spiritual life looks more like a dry, rocky piece of ground that's bone dry and there's nothing growing there.
[17:01] But a person who believes Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and has great confidence in that truth because God has said so and puts their confidence there, not in other idols, but in the fact that Jesus is the Christ.
[17:17] That person, it's interesting, prayer begins to, you know what an artesian spring is? Underground water that just has to burst through the rock at some point? Persons, people, persons, I sound like I'm campaigning.
[17:34] People, people with real assurance in Jesus Christ. The prayer bursts forth through the rock. In fact, you can't stop a real believing Christian from praying.
[17:46] You couldn't prevent it any more than the rocks could keep the water in eventually. It's gonna burst out, it's gonna crack the rocks, it's gonna spring out and it's gonna water and there's gonna be things growing in the dirt because of it.
[18:02] You can't stop a real Christian from praying because there's great assurance in who Jesus is according to what God said about him and I'm putting my confidence in him.
[18:16] Therefore, I believe he answers prayer. Therefore, I pray. I was really late in life discovering this truth.
[18:30] Thank God I have. It's made all the difference since 2017. That's not really when I first discovered that prayer is real but that's when I started saying, if I believe in prayer, why am I not praying?
[18:42] The kind of assurance John talks about in verse 13 leads to a powerful confidence in Christ that makes us pray which means that a lack of prayer indicates a lack of confidence in Jesus.
[19:04] So if you look with me at verse 14, in short, it says that if we have this confidence, this is how we'll pray.
[19:17] This is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
[19:33] Confidence, it says, toward him. Confidence, maybe you need to underline that in your Bible if you do that.
[19:43] Confidence toward him. This is the confidence we have toward him. Not in ourselves, not in idols, not in power, not in pornography, not in pleasure.
[19:58] Confidence toward him that we pray like this, John is saying. I hope you hear this. Believers who are confident in Jesus pray the way he taught us to pray.
[20:13] That's the sense behind these words, if we ask anything according to his will. When I was a kid, we used to have to say the Lord's Prayer regularly in elementary school.
[20:25] I think that's long gone. But maybe you remember the Lord's Prayer. There's a shorter version that I prefer in the Gospel of Luke because the longer version I always kept forgetting pieces of it.
[20:40] In Luke chapter 11, verse 2 to 4, Jesus taught us to pray like this. He said, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
[20:54] Give us each day our daily bread and forgive our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. So let me just ask you this.
[21:06] It's difficult sometimes to know for sure what is the Lord's will because verse 14 says if we pray according to his will, he hears us. So we need to ask what is the Lord's will and then let's pray that.
[21:19] Right? Does that make sense? So for sure we can count on the fact that if we pray according to exactly how Jesus taught us to pray, that is the Lord's will, isn't it?
[21:31] If we're just praying exactly how he showed us, isn't that the Lord's will? And therefore we know he hears us. This is the promise of God's word. Does that make sense to you?
[21:43] I'm not quite sure that you're with me on that. Okay, enough nodding heads. Well, hopefully they're nodding yes and not nodding off. Verse 14 says, if we pray like Jesus taught us, Father hallowed be your name.
[22:05] Father, Father, your will be done. He hears us. Verse 14 says, if we pray according to how Jesus wants us to pray, what Jesus wants is what it means when it says according to his will.
[22:18] His will is what Jesus himself wants. And he showed us what he wants and the way he showed us to pray, Father hallowed be your name. Father, your kingdom come. Father, your will be done.
[22:32] Father, give us this day our daily bread. Father, forgive us our trespasses. And no father, help us forgive those who trespass against us.
[22:47] When we pray like that, he hears us. When we pray for what he wants, he hears us. Now, I think there's a whole lot of other things that are according to his will that Jesus wants that we can pray for knowing he'll hear us.
[22:59] But this at least is a start, isn't it? So if we pray like this, he hears us. Knowing Jesus hears us, is that likely to make you more confident and more likely to pray or less confident?
[23:13] It's an assurance building truth that leads you to pray. If you believe in Jesus, you will pray. If you pray the way he taught you to, according to his will, you will have greater assurance because you know he's listening.
[23:29] That's what verse 14 promises. But verse 15 gives an even greater confidence. Believers who ask for what Jesus wants, we receive the things we ask for.
[23:44] Look at verse 15. And if we know that he hears us, and we do, if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests we've asked of him.
[23:58] All that depends on if we are praying according to his will, what Jesus wants. Then we know he hears us, then we know we have the things that we've asked of him because he's giving them to us.
[24:09] And who is he? Jesus, the Christ. Jesus, the Son of God. According to God's word, we know who he is, so we're praying to him according to what he taught us, and he hears us and gives us what we've asked for because those are the very things he wants himself.
[24:25] the assurance here is breathtaking. So what kinds of things would Jesus want to give us?
[24:42] do you see how having Jesus answer your prayers would make you more confident to pray?
[24:58] If you knew he was listening, if you knew he would give you what you've asked, that it would make you pray more? what kind of things does Jesus want us to pray for?
[25:17] The more confident that you become in Jesus, the more you turn away from idols and your confidence is resting in who the Son of God is, the more it's going to break your heart when people that you love, brothers and sisters in your church, fellow Christians, fellow believers, are making choices that are pursuing idols instead of pursuing Jesus.
[25:45] The more your confidence is in Jesus and you are confident and you're praying more because he's answering prayers, the more it's just going to tear you up that there are people that you care about in your church sitting with you on Sunday morning that are taking their confidence away from Jesus and putting their confidence in idols that in the end are going to kill them.
[26:09] Doesn't that break your heart? The only confidence that we have for these kinds of prayers for fellow believers is confidence in Christ.
[26:21] What if you're not sure? What if you're worried that a fellow believer is going to fall into sin? These verses tell us to pray. So my third point is that confidence in Jesus makes us bold to pray for other Christians.
[26:40] The one who sins to death, verse 16, the one who sins to death, what does that mean? Look at it with me. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin, this is verse 16 in chapter 5, if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask.
[27:01] That means pray. And God will give him life. Because Jesus hears your prayer and that's what Jesus wants you to pray and so he's answering your prayer by giving you the thing you've asked for.
[27:13] Let me 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.
[27:25] I do not say that one should pray for that. Now notice carefully he's not saying we shouldn't pray for that. He's just saying that's not what I'm talking about here. What does it mean commit sin leading to death?
[27:43] This means someone who is committing sin leading to death is someone who perseveres in some sin, putting their confidence in some idol until the day they die.
[27:55] You can picture that like someone running full speed headlong in the path of sin and disobedience to God refusing to give up a sin. It breaks your heart because there are people that we love who refuse to give up their sin and it's as if they're saying the only way they will let it go is over their dead body and even then you're going to have to pry it out of their cold lifeless hands.
[28:27] They're not going to let go. And the point is not that certain sins are more dangerous and certain sins are less dangerous. The point is not what kind of sins can you get away with and still live.
[28:42] Don't read it like that. The Greek is quite clear. The Greek here instead of saying committing sins leading to death it says committing sins to death. It has the idea of you never stop.
[28:55] You never turn. You never repent. What stops your sinning eventually is death. It's terminal. It's the end of the road. The one who does not commit a sin that leads to death, the one not sinning to death is the person who eventually turns, who eventually repents, to whom the Lord gives life.
[29:14] And if you're unsure about that, just look at verse 18. It's pretty clear that it's Jesus who stops us from sinning. But we'll get there. So if you see a brother or sister sinning, we need to pray for them.
[29:38] Verses 17 and 18 say 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.
[29:53] Jesus prayed this way. Father, I do not pray for the world. I pray for those you've given me. Father, I pray that you will keep them. That's how he prayed.
[30:11] That's how he wants us to pray. For our brothers and sisters, trusting in idols instead of trusting in Jesus. It's crucial that we pray for each other.
[30:32] Do you know that on any given Sunday there are Christians sitting around you who are on the verge of giving up in Christ and on the verge of trusting fully in idols?
[30:43] Christians? Do you know that on any given Sunday there are Christians sitting around you who feel like some idol or other just won't let them go? That they just don't know how to be free?
[30:59] Do you know that there are brothers and sisters? Do you care for your brothers and sisters? sisters? Do you pray for them? Do you confess your sins to each other so that others can pray for you?
[31:13] Like John promises according to the Holy Spirit's inspiration here in 1 John 5 beginning in verse 13 that if we pray like Jesus taught us and we pray for brothers and sisters who are caught up in the chains of some idol and we pray Lord Jesus give him life turn him from his sin turn her from her sin give her confidence in you Lord not in some idol that will never never ever fulfill her trust Jesus give her confidence in you so that she turns from that and lives John is saying if we pray according to what Jesus wants us to pray he hears us and he gives us what we ask verse 16 says God gives him life God will give him life to those who are committing sins not to death in verse 21 we see the connection what idols have to do with this passage verse 21 some scholars think it's like a post script you know like at the end of your letter you write well when we used to write letters you write PS at the end of the letter because it's something you forgot to add on in the main body of the letter and verse 21 says little children keep yourself from idols we see now that this is intimately connected to everything that's gone before idols are things we place inappropriate confidence in when we must remain confident in Christ make sure you pray for your fellow believers that they will also persevere and
[33:03] John warns of that failure to persevere in verse 21 little children keep yourself from idols and in verses 18 to 20 he's going to reveal to believers how you and I can find more assurance more power to stand and so finally what if you're afraid your confidence will fail what if you're afraid you will fall to sin and never stand up again never repent and one of his essays Brian Chappelle urged his readers to face the truth about themselves to ask what he calls this distasteful question let me share it with you he says since we are no longer slaves to sin why do we sin it's a good question I thought since we are no longer slaves to sin why do we sin already we've discovered that the Bible will not allow us to say I just can't help it he goes on the grace of God has freed us from the guilt and power of sin the apostle Paul clearly says sin will have no dominion over you Romans 6 14 and John echoes he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world 1st John 4 4 so why do we sin his answer he says the answer we hate is this because we love it we need to learn to love
[34:37] God more than we love the world we need to learn to love God more than we love the world we need to learn to love Christ more than we love idols how do we do that we need to become more confident in Christ we need greater assurance in Christ so that when we're faced with temptations we will go you idol you cannot meet my needs you're lying to me I no longer have confidence in your ability to fulfill and to keep your promises to me I am confident in Jesus Christ that he hears me when I pray according to his will that he will give me what I ask idol back off everybody has faith it's just in all the wrong things it's in their idols we need more faith in
[35:40] Jesus so how can we keep ourselves from falling the only true confidence for purity is confidence in Jesus and how can we become not more self-confident or more confident in idols we don't need more of that how do we become more confident in Jesus in Christ my final point is confidence in Jesus grows from what we know verses 18 and 19 and 20 follow a kind of a pattern it's like that who is the guy playing guitar with his foot on that beat thing this morning where are you that's really cool that was cool but in verses 18 and 19 20 we see that a pounding of a beat we see a repeating of a beat notice the words at the beginning of each of those verses 18 19 20 we know we know we know I like some classical music one of my favorite pieces is by handle it's in the Messiah it's the the hallelujah chorus I love where it's placed in the L in the Messiah it's kind of like it's not a particularly happy piece of music overall the whole thing but when the hallelujah chorus comes on it's like there's this no and and I always feel like I'm gonna like I need to stand just like Queen
[37:04] Victoria once stood out of reverence for God I don't know whether she felt it or not but there's something triumphant about that piece of music in that symphony isn't there it's a crescendo it's glorious and it's got this beat and that's what these verses do at the end of first John for the whole letter but especially chapter 5 it's a climax it's a crescendo it's triumphant and it's supposed to make you look and it's not supposed to make you look at yourself or look at an idol it's supposed to make your eyes go immediately to Jesus chapter 5 verse 1 the Christ chapter 5 verse 4 the son of God and we see it again in chapter 5 verse 20 the true God and eternal life him your eyes are supposed to go to him and say Jesus look at these verses 18 19 and 20 we know we know we know these three declarations are like anchors driving our confidence down into the bedrock of Jesus Christ so that nothing will again shake our confidence in him as long as we remember these things there are a summary of everything he's taught in chapters 5 1 through 5 these three we know declarations look up confidence in Jesus Christ is John's goal here revealed by the testimony of almighty God to hear and believe to look on him who is the only true object of faith the ground of eternal confidence himself John anchors our confidence in
[38:48] Christ in these three final we know statements and the first is in the middle of verse 18 look at it with me 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 he who was born of God that's Jesus in case you missed it that's Jesus we know he who was born of God protects him that's why if you are a true believer whose confidence is in Jesus Christ because God's word said so and you believe it in fact you're counting on it you will not keep on sinning Jesus will stop you verse 18 says that Jesus protects all of God's children everyone who has been born of God everything in verse 18 is guaranteed by Jesus he who was born of
[39:58] God is our guarantor he is our security he is our safety he is our protector even from our own sin praise God I'm used to a slightly more responsive congregation praise God Jesus makes sure the devil can't even touch us confidence in Jesus helps us to know this the beginning of the verse we know the second sort of banging of the symbols or or movement in the crescendo of this symphony the second declaration that anchors our confidence in Jesus is the next we know statement in verse 19 we know we belong to Jesus we are his verse 19 says we know that we are from God and conversely the whole world lies in the power of the evil one so the verse says we know we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one those are that's a contrast we know we are from
[41:05] God we know we belong to Jesus in his high priestly prayer in John 17 verse 9 Jesus prayed to his father I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me Jesus is praying for those who belong to him those have risk who have received the father's testimony about the son whose faith and confidence now is resting in Christ Jesus is praying for them and we're called to pray for them in fact that includes us we know if we believe in Jesus like chapter 5 verse 1 says if we believe he is the Christ we are born of God we have been born again we know we are from him if we've been born again and that's great confidence John 17 verse 16 Jesus said they are not of the world just as I am not of the world talking about those who have not been born again who do not believe the word of God who call God a liar and reject his testimony about the
[42:14] Christ but if you have been born again from God you belong to Jesus and you are under his protection forever we know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one but we know that we are from God and thirdly the last we know statement it's the climax of the whole letter Jesus put his word in our hearts look at verse 20 and we this might be one of my favorite verses in the Bible verse 20 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 in eternal life is there any more glorious testimony of who Jesus is in the whole Bible he is the true God in eternal life why are you looking for it in idols why do you think an idol can make your life more full worth living happy safe we know he has come we know he he is the true God in eternal life this is the last assurance building truth that is glorious in its exaltation of Christ what a triumphant note the son of God has come it's the way he began the letter he returns to the fact of Jesus first coming that he emphasized at the very beginning but what we know that builds this final confidence for us is not just that Jesus came it's what he gave us it's what he gave us when he came first he gives us understanding it says it says in verse 20 we know the son of God has come and has given us understanding the the literally the word there means a mind he's given us a mind it's like when Jesus it's the same word in fact when Jesus said you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind
[44:32] Jesus gives us a mind Jesus gives us that mind to love him a new mind it's the same word that Hebrews uses about what God gives us on the new covenant this is the covenant God said that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares Yahweh I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts Hebrews 8 10 same word Jesus by the gift of his Holy Spirit gives believers a heart to want to trust him gives believers a mind to understand his word and gives believers a will to obey him these are the gifts Jesus gives you as you come to him and put your confidence in him so verse 20 in the middle of the verse says so that did you see that the reason Jesus came and the reason he gives us these gifts has a purpose we know that the son of God has come and has given us a mind or understanding so that we may know him who is true so that we may know him and this is the last great anchor of our confidence in Christ he gives us what we need to know him and to be in him so that our confidence is entirely in the son of God and who is he is he worthy of our confidence will he bear up will he bear the weight we put on him verse 21 says little children keep yourself from idols
[46:15] Jesus is the true God but we're always tempted to put our trust our confidence in false gods John says little children keep yourself from idols no idol will save you no idol will satisfy you God has spoken about who Jesus is God has already testified do not call God a liar my friends the only confidence you can have for prayer for perseverance and for purity is confidence in Jesus Christ and who is he look at verse 20 trust verse 20 he is the true God and eternal life let's pray