Open up your Bibles, if you would,
to 1 John. 1 John chapter 5. Lord willing,
next week we'll be finishing this wonderful book. And I've been praying about going
forth into 1 John 2, or 2 John, 1 John 2, 2 John and 3 John. and finishing all John's letters
to the church. Name of the message tonight is
Christ Our Confidence. Christ Our Confidence. We'll
read verses 13 to 17, that'd be a portion of our scripture
that we're studying tonight. 1 John 5, verses 13 to 17. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that
we have in Him. If we ask anything according
to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, Whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. If any man see his brother sin
a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give
him life, for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto
death and I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness
is sin and there is a sin not unto death. Now we as humans,
we put confidence in a lot of different things. Natural man
puts confidence in a lot of things. sometimes people put confidence
in other people and Eventually this will lead
to one being down let down because We're all sinners Folks are going
to let you down eventually they will Some put confidence in their
strength I know a lot of young men who put confidence in their
strength, but when they grow old, that strength fades away. We can't do the things we once
used to do. We want to, we desire to, but
we don't always have the strength to do them. And some people put confidence
in their intelligence. Some people do that. They put
confidence in their intellect. But you know, there's always
someone smarter than we are. There always is. There always
is someone smarter than we are. And some people put their confidence
in other men or women, but again, we know that everyone's a sinner
and eventually they're gonna let them down because they're
just like us. Some people put confidence in
their natural abilities, in their natural abilities. their abilities to do things
that others can't do. But eventually, as we grow older,
we quickly find out that we cannot do the things as we used to do. Now, the believer in Christ in
our natural state, when we were dead in trespasses
and sins, we had confidence in ourselves, which is what natural
man does. Every natural man has confidence
in themselves. Even if they don't admit it,
they do. They think they're good. And the way they say that is,
I like what Brother Henry said, there's always another worm out
there that we think is worse than us. But we're all sinners. We're
all sinners. But see, natural man doesn't
see himself as a sinner. I was talking to a religious
guy last week, and I said, well, you ever heard
the saying, I sin more than I want to? That I sin more than I want to,
that I do more of that than I want to? And he's like, well, I don't.
Oh, my. Every believer sins more than
they want to, don't we? Every single one of us. And we
look forward to that day when we aren't going to sin anymore.
What a day that'll be. What a day that'll be. My. So, we once called ourselves
good people in comparison to some who we thought were outright
evil. And there's a multitude of people in the world that are
like that. They think, well, I'm not an axe murderer, I'm
not this, I'm not that. No, praise God by the restraining
hand of God, we aren't. But people, by comparing themselves
to other sinners, they think that they have obtained a position where they're better and they
will be accepted by God. But we know the Lord says there's
none righteous. There's none that seek after God. There's
none that understand. Why? Well, the scripture says
so that all men can become guilty before God. That includes Grandma, who's
a sweet old lady. But if she's dead and trespasses
in sin, even if they're a good, moral, outright person, they're
still a sinner. A sinner's a sinner in God's eyes. This makes the mercy of God magnificent. This makes the grace of God magnificent
for the believer. And all our confidence, and all
our hope, and all our trust is in one basket. Christ Jesus our Lord. He is
our confidence. He's our hope. He's our Redeemer. He's our Savior. And God is only
pleased with us in Him. So we are not to put our confidence
in anyone or anything but Christ. But Christ. He's the one. He's the only one who God accepts. Listen to what Job is penned
in the book of Job. If you want to turn there you
can, Job 18, but I'm going to read it. This is what happens
to an unsaved man when they die. The snare is laid for him in
the ground, and the trap for him in the way. Terror shall
make him afraid on every side. Why? Because the refuge of lies
that he was trusting in is being revealed as a refuge of lies. and shall drive him to his feet.
His strength shall be hunger-bitten, and destruction shall be ready
at his side. It shall devour the strength
of his skin. Even the firstborn of the dead
shall devour his strength. His confidence shall be rooted
out. In the Hebrew, that means it's ripped out. His confidence will be ripped,
ripped right out from underneath him. Because it's a refuge of
lies. And then it says, his confidence
shall be reared out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the
king of terrors. Oh my. That's what happens to someone
who takes confidence in themselves. And that's Job chapter 18, verses
10 to 14. Sobering words. Sobering words. Now, for the born again blood-washed
believer though, We look outside ourselves, beloved. We don't
look to ourselves anymore. Our confidence is not in ourselves,
not in any of our abilities, not in any of our giftings, nothing.
Our confidence is wholly in Christ, in Christ alone. He's our only
confidence before God. And remember, one of the reasons
that this book is written is for the believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ to know that they have eternal life. To know that. We see that right in the text.
Look at verse 13. These things have I written to
you. Remember, he's writing to believers. These things have
I written to you, that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life. This is a book that brings assurance
to God's people. Because, again, our confidence
is in Christ. In Him alone. And we know who
he is. He's the God-man, sent down from
heaven by the Father to be a propitiation for our sins. Praise God. Praise God. And again, eternal life, it's
very clear, is only in Christ and Christ alone. Our dear brother John has written
many things in this wonderful book as we've studied the book.
And they are all for our enrichment and our edification, beloved.
And there's been some very edifying portions of scripture that we've
looked at through this book. There's been warnings, though. There's been exhortations. And there's also been some very
comforting scripture, isn't there? And every book in the Bible is
written that way. It's all about Christ. It tells us all about
our Redeemer. This whole book is all about
Christ, beloved. What He's done, where He is now,
who He is. And it proclaims, like a thin
red line, that redemption is only through the blood of the
Lamb. From Genesis to Revelation, beloved, it proclaims that. It's a scarlet thread that runs
all through the Word of God. Christ alone. Salvation in Christ
alone. Salvation accomplished by Christ
alone. To the glory of God. To the glory
of God. In types, in pictures, in shadows,
He's all through the Old Testament, beloved. All through the Old
Testament. And we see in the New Testament
again, the substance of those shadows right before us, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is proclaimed in Christ
alone, the great substitute who's made satisfaction for God's people
before our great God. And He did it for His people.
And salvation is complete in Him. And we are complete in Him,
beloved. Outside of Christ is no salvation
at all. But in Christ, the believer has
so much. And you've heard me say we're
richer than the richest man in this world. We really are in
Christ. Because do you know why? You know why I say that? Because
when that rich man dies and goes to hell, if he never repents,
if God doesn't give him faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, that rich man will go to hell and everything he has,
all his wealth will stay right here. He can't take a penny with
him. But we, when we die, beloved,
We don't care about what we're leaving behind. Oh my, we get
to see the King. And we have eternal life. And the scripture tells us tonight
we know, we can know that we have eternal life. So do you
see why we're far richer, beloved, than the richest man in the world?
We don't get what we deserve. And we have all the riches, all
spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord. And then we get
to see Him. for eternity, we get to worship Him with all the
others who were purchased by His blood, with the holy angels.
Sing praises to our God forever, with no sin. Oh my, we're so
rich, beloved. And it's mercy. It's all according
to God's grace and mercy and His will that it will be so,
based upon nothing else. Nothing else. And Christ has
accomplished salvation for those who believe on the name of the
Son of God. And those who God chose in Christ are granted faith
to believe on the Son of God. Are granted faith according to
the will and purpose of our great God. Therefore, Christ alone is our
only confidence, beloved. He's our only confidence. He's
the only one who we truly rest in. He's the only one. Confidence we see there in verse
14. Weiss brings forth in the Greek that it's free and fearless
confidence. Cheerful, courage, boldness,
assurance. Look at verse 14. And this is
the confidence. Again, free, fearless, confidence.
Cheerful, courage, boldness, assurance. This is the confidence
that we have in who? Not in ourselves, say, in Him,
in Christ. If we ask anything according
to His will, He heareth us. So we've seen in our study in
this book that it brings forth and declares the relationship
of Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father. Also in this book, the
unbeliever is contrasted to the believer. We've seen that in
our study. And the distinction that we saw
in The first chapter began with walking in the light, as opposed
to walking in darkness. And continue with the distinction
between true believers and false professors, and also true and
false prophets, and also Christ and Antichrist. So there's been contrasts that
are being brought forth before us in this book. Again, let's
read our passage again. And remember, the distinction
that we saw in the first chapter began with walking in the light,
and walking in darkness, again, and continued with the distinction
between true believers and false professors, and then true and
false prophets and teachers, those who trust the witness that
God has given us, and those who do not. And the only reason we
trust the witness that God has given us is by God-given faith,
eh? That's the only reason. Because
we didn't trust it before we were saved, did we? No. We didn't even care about this
book. Well now it tells, we read it and it tells us about our
blessed Savior. It tells us about what He's done. It's a wonderful book. Let's
read our passage again. We'll read verses 13 to 17 again. And we'll see here that our confidence
is in Christ and Him alone. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that
we have in Him, in Christ, that if we ask anything according
to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. If any man see his brother sin
a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give
him life for that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray
for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto
death. Now in verse 13, John says he's
written to those who believe on the name of the Son of God.
And he does this for two reasons, beloved. Look at this in our text again.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name
of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life,
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. So why has he written this book?
Well, we see there, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.
that you may know me, and that you may believe on the name of
the Son of God." Well, we see then that John has
penned this book, and remember, he's penned these words by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. We always have to remember that.
The true author of these words is the Holy Spirit of God. And these words come to us, to
we who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, we who are
washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
we may know that we have eternal life. And we may know it. We
may know it. And this epistle and this particular
text was written for all those who believe on the name of the
Son of God. This verse was not written to
unbelievers, but for all who trust in Christ. But it is for no other, as only
those who trust in Christ have eternal life in Him. One may ask, well, why do you
say it's not written on the believers? Well, because the text plainly
declares this, plainly declares this, and it would be preposterous
to give unbelievers assurance of that which is not true. Now for those who this text is
written, the believer in Christ, how do they know that they have
eternal life? Well, look in the same chapter,
look at verses 10 to 12. No one can have eternal life
unless they have God-given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, beloved. Look at verses 10 to 12. He that
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that
believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record
that God hath given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. And God's people believe that, don't we? And then look
at verse 12. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Well, the
life spoken of there is eternal life, beloved. It's eternal life. Look at those words, it's wonderful.
And this is the record in the scripture. And God's people,
again, believe the record by God-given faith. Because there
was a time when I did not believe these words. But now they're
so precious. And this is the record. That
God hath given to us eternal life. Hallelujah. And this life
is in His Son, only in Christ. Do you see? Do you see how this
ties in with our text? That you may know that you have
a turnabout. And this is the confidence that we have in Him.
It's only in Christ. He that hath the Son hath life.
Very, very plainly written, isn't it? And he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life. Hath not life. So people who who preach people into heaven
who hated God, well, they're making God a liar to themselves,
because the Scripture says right here, He that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And
God's people believe the record that God has given to us. Very clear, isn't it? So if someone
hates the record, and hates the Son, or does not love Him, Well, the scripture's so clear
there in verse 12. He that hath the Son hath life.
And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Praise
our great God if you have life. Give him all the glory, beloved.
If he's given you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, he
that hath the Son hath life. The only reason we, the only
way we have the son is by God-given faith. We believe upon him, but
we were his from before the foundation of the world, weren't we? We
didn't know it. We've been his from eternity.
But when God granted us faith to believe, we believed the record,
oh my. We were once dead in trespasses
and sins without hope, and oh, what a hope we have now. What
a confidence we have now before God. Beloved of God, our confidence,
our faith must hang upon one nail, the one nail that's sure,
the one nail fastened in the sure place, the scripture declares. And that nail in the sure place
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the nail in the sure place,
beloved. And we hang our eternal souls
upon Him, don't we? Oh yeah, we do. And it is in him who the child
of God walks in the light. Outside of Christ one wanders
in darkness. We were talking about that earlier.
All the darkness we were wandering in before the Lord saved us.
Oh my. We walked in darkness and death
and we had no hope, no confidence of eternal life. Now we walk in the light, we
have eternal life in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and to
God be the glory for it all. Turn if you would to Colossians
chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. I'm going to read our verse again,
verse 13 here, before we read that. Verse 13 says, These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that
ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. So he states
again, that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Now
looking at this at first, looking at 1 John 5.13, it may seem redundant,
because He brings forth again that those
who believe on Christ need to be reminded to believe. But I'll tell you what, you talk
to every born-again, blood-washed believer, and we know that we're
plagued with unbelief, don't we? Oh, we have times of unbelief,
times of doubt, times of doubt. And the thing necessary in this
life is that our hearts and our minds be fixed upon Christ, beloved. And that's what John's doing. He's telling us, fix your mind
and your eyes on Christ. When he says, and that you may
believe on the name of the Son of God. Believe Him. Believe
on Him. And look what Paul pens over here in Colossians chapter
three. In light of that, look at that. Because we are plagued
with unbelief in our lives. Look at this. If ye then be risen
with Christ. And again, he's writing to believers.
If ye then be risen with Christ, verse one. Seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Look to him in all times. All situations. Look at this. Set your affection on things
above, not on the things of the earth. When we studied the book
of Colossians, we looked at that, and that's to set our affection,
our hearts, and our minds both on Christ. Set them on Him. Look at this. For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. There's no question. The believer
is dead to the things of this world, again, We used to walk
amongst the dead, and now we rejoice to be with the living.
And we're dead to the things of the world, and your life is
hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. So
why does Paul, again, tell us to set our affection on things
above, on Christ? Why does John tell us in the
text? Let's go back to our text. 1 John 5.13. Let's go back there
and we'll read it again. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and here's the second thing,
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Now he's
writing to believers. So why does Paul tell us to set
our affection upon Christ and not on the earth? And why does
John here in our text Say, I've written this so that you know
that you may have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. Well, it's because of all of
our troubles can be traced to looking somewhere other than
Christ, beloved. It's true. It's when we get in a heap of
trouble. When we look to ourselves, or we look to the solutions in
the world, Why? When our affection is set on
anything other than Christ is when we get in a heap of trouble. So Paul, as well as John, is
bringing forth that while we journey through this world, we
ought to spend our lives in reading and considering and meditating
upon the wonderful book which points us to Christ. It's an
exhortation for us to keep our eyes focused on Him. Because we have a tendency to
try to do things in our own strength. We all do. Or to get upset about
a situation and think, oh my, this is the end of the world.
No. God said He's still on the throne.
He hasn't left. And He never will. He never will,
beloved. He never will. He will never abdicate His throne.
So we're to consider Christ, who He is. We're to consider,
we're to read and study this wonderful book which tells us
about Christ. The Old Testament tells us someone's
coming. Someone's coming. Someone's coming. And the New Testament says He's
come. from all the gospels says he's
come. And in Acts says he's risen. And later on in the book it says
he's coming again. It's all about Christ, beloved.
It's all about him. All about him. So as we read
and study the scriptures, we're comforted. knowing that it's He who has
redeemed our soul. It's He who saved us. And so
John exhorts us to keep looking to Him, keep believing. Now let's look at verses 14 and
15 together, and we'll see John addresses the believer's confidence
and take note that the confidence is singular. It's singular. Look at this in verses 14 and
15. And this is the confidence that we have in him, singular. If we ask anything according
to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of him. Now note it does not say our
confidence is in ourselves, or in our strength, or in our
intellect. or in any other person other
than Christ. It doesn't say that, does it?
It says our confidence is in Christ who is God incarnate in
the flesh. You gotta read all these verses
in context, don't we? These things have I written,
verse 13, unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
we know that's the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye may know that
ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of
the Son of God. And this is the confidence that
we have in Him, in the Son of God, in Christ, that if we ask
anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know
that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know, that we had
the petitions that we desired of Him. So our confidence is in Christ
and Christ alone. And it's He who we pray to. It's
He who we pray to. Now what does this do for the
believer? Knowing that our confidence is only in Christ? Well it strips
us, beloved. It strips us of self-righteousness.
It strips us of pride. It strips us of any thought of
ability on our own to save ourselves. It strips us, beloved. It lays
us into dust. And we can only look to our Lord.
And we only have confidence in Him. Without me, He tells us
in Scripture, without me, ye can do nothing. Therefore, who's
our confidence in? He who can do everything. He
can do everything. The Lord Jesus Christ. And we see, then, who our confidence
and assurance is in. It's in Him alone. We've renounced
any other confidence, haven't we? We have no assurance outside
of Him. We've laid hold upon him, haven't
we? And we hold onto him. Old Spurgeon used to say, sink
or swim, I trust in him. I like that. Sink or swim, I
trust in him. And laid a hold of him, man.
Oh my. We laid a hold of him because
he's laid a hold of us. Oh my. He's finished the work, beloved.
Salvation is complete in Him, and we trust and rest in Him.
And this is the confidence that we have in Him, in Christ, in
the Redeemer. He alone is our mediator between
God, the only mediator between God and man. He alone is our
Savior. He alone is our Redeemer. And now we have confidence to
call on God in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. You ever think
of what an honor it is for us to approach the sovereign throne
of glory? That we who are animated dust
can bring petitions to the great king. What an honor. And we can only do it through
Christ. So it strips us of any pride that way. But what an honor,
what a privilege. That we are called the sons of
God. That we are being beloved to the Father from eternity. Grace, grace, marvelous grace. And what did our Lord tell us?
What did our Lord tell us? He told us to pray. If it's the
Lord's, if it's the Father's will, right? Thy will be done.
Thy will be done in heaven and on earth. And now, We who are redeemed
call God our Father? Scripture says this, but without
faith it is impossible to please him. Well, man can't muster that
faith up, can we? No, it's God-given faith. Without
faith it's impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is. We must believe the record. And
by God-given faith, we believe the record. Oh, it's incredible. And that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. We're richer than the richest
man in the world, beloved. Because Christ is our reward.
Christ is our reward. He told Abraham that. I'm your
exceeding reward. I'm your exceeding reward. And
next in this verse we see that God hears our prayers. What a
promise that is. God hears our prayers. Look at
that. That if we ask anything according
to his will, he heareth us. Note, though, according to his
will. We subject our prayers, beloved,
to the will of God. When we pray, we say, Lord, if
it be thy will. Lord, if it be thy will. But
what a promise here, too. We know that our prayers are
heard. The text proclaims that. We set
our requests before God and ask if it be His will to have those
requests come to pass. Again, we pray to our Father.
We come to Him only in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. And we
know that our prayers are heard and that He is to be believed. And
He will answer our prayers according to His will. Listen to this. Likewise, the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans chapter eight, verses 26 and 27. So let's read verse
15 here. And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we
desired of him. So we know that God hears our
prayers. The prayers of the believer, again, this is written to believers.
Because this is what the scripture proclaims and declares. And what
a promise again that is. And note that through the promise
is not he granted it, but he hears it. Notice that, notice
that. Verse 14 doesn't say he grants
it, but it says he hears it. That's important. That's important. Because false preachers take
this stuff and rip it out of context and say, see, whatever
you ask for, God's going to give you. No, it doesn't work that
way. It doesn't work that way. And if we know, or verse 14,
and this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if If we
ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we
know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have
the predictions that we desired of Him. Again, we pray to the Father,
we come to Him only in and through Christ, and we know that our
prayers are heard, and we believe that, and our prayers are answered
according to His will. according to His will. Again, note that
the promise is not He granteth, but He hears us. He hears us. And He answers our prayer according
to His sovereign, divine will. We do not have our prayers always
answered, do we? No. And we desire certain things,
and oftentimes we ask amiss, beloved. What we ask of Him is. But He answers us in His own
way, according to His will. Always remember that God does
not always give us what we ask for, but He always gives us what
we need. He always gives us what we need. What we really need. The Scriptures proclaim that
our great God hears us, and we're commanded in the Scriptures to
pray. Paul wrote over there in 1 Thessalonians 5, he says, pray
without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Give thanks. Pray to the Lord whenever you
desire to pray to him. Whether you're driving in the
car, going to work, whether you're walking around work, just pray
to him. He's our Heavenly Father. It's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. We're taught by the Lord to pray
when we say, our Father, our Father. And Paul writes, be careful for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. He might not answer them all
the way you want, but he'll answer them according to as well. And the apostles we see in the
scriptures, they were men of prayer. And we can be sure that
in God's own time and way, we shall have everything that we
ask for, which is in accordance with his sovereign will. Again,
if it be thy will. If it be thy will, Lord. And we see again that John narrows
the scope of what is to be prayed for and what is not to be prayed
for over in verse 16 here. But specific to all prayer is
that it be prayed according to God's will. Always. Lord, if
it be your will. Even when Vicki and I are praying
for our loved ones, Lord, if it be your will. Draw them to
you, Lord, if it be your will. Now we hope and pray, but if
it be thy will. At first, this is mysterious
language in verse 16. It's not an admonition to try
to find out God's will in a particular matter. No, beloved God, this
is a reminder for us that God's will shall be done. That's what
we're seeing in this portion. That God's will shall be done.
It will be done. And we are to pray that His will
be done. And those prayers, again, that
are according to His purpose will be answered. Think of that. Think of that. Think of someone
you... Think of the people who the Lord
saved in the church, who the saints have been praying for
them for years. Think of Bilker Patrick. I know
you've all been praying for him over there in Lantana. They've
been praying for him for years. Well, it was the Lord's will
to answer that prayer. The Lord saved him. According to
his will. According to his mercy. And it's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And certainly this also means
that we are to pray according to his revealed will. His word,
one preacher of old would say, Scripture, please, when folks
started talking about what they had prayed for or what they believed.
He'd always say, Scripture. I'll tell ya, you hear about
how some people talk about praying to God, and I know it's not the
God of the Bible, but they think they got a genie on their hands. The God of the Bible answers
prayer according to His will. He's not beholden to anybody. And that's the amazing thing
is we pray for our loved ones and friends and folks who are
in the church that the Lord would save them. And when we do, or
when the Lord does save them, we can look and go, that was
according to God's will. That's wonderful. That's absolutely
wonderful. Praise be to God. And these verses are often being
abused by false teachers and people who tell other people
that whatever they're asked for, they receive. Oh, this one just
burns my toast. I get so mad when I hear this.
When people say, well, you don't have enough faith. That's why
you weren't healed. Oh, it just burns me up. I'm
telling you, I get so mad when I hear that. That's awful. What a horrible thing to say
to somebody. Our God, beloved, answers prayer
according to His will, and we rejoice when He heals someone,
but we rejoice when His will's done whatever way we do, because
we love our Lord, and we know that He can do whatsoever He
pleases. My. So we often ask and miss,
but what confidence we can have in the fact that God hears our
prayers, beloved, that He hears us. He hears the prayers of His
people. And we're to pray again according
to His will, and then He will honor our prayer with giving
us what we request, if it's according to His will. And we marvel, don't
we? happens we we just marvel and
we say this this is the Lord's doing and we marvel see we give them
all the glory beloved so our requests before the throne
of grace should our constant cry with our prayer should be
thy will be done I will be done. Now let's read verses 16 and
17. If any man see his brother sin, a sin that which is not
unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him life for them
that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I
do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is
sin, and there is a sin not unto death. Now remember, Again, this
verse 16 has been pulled out of context so much and being
made to say things that the text doesn't even say. Remember the
context. We can never divorce a text from
the context, can we? We can't. That's why it's so
important to read the context of verses. Because you can't
divorce a text from the context. And John, throughout this epistle,
has been bringing forth the difference between light and darkness, between
the truth and the lie, between Christ and Antichrist, between
the believer and the unbeliever. And now here in verse 16, he
brings forth before us in this verse, these established principles
as sin that is not unto death and sin unto death. He's doing
a contrast. And remember the context of this
verse, namely that what we should or should not pray for according
to God's will. and that He answers our prayers
according to His will. The first part of this verse
is about praying for the recovery of a brother who's fallen. If
any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall
ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. Now the word brother is not in
the sense of the flesh, but rather it's about those who are of like
precious faith. Those who are born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. Those who are not ashamed of
Christ, not ashamed to call Him our Savior. Our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Those for whom the Son of God died for. And our sins, just like this
brother spoken of here, our sins have been forgiven. Washed in
the precious blood of Christ. Though we die physically, this
verse is referring to eternal death. It's referring to eternal
death. Or the second death. The believer
has been delivered, beloved, from the second death. We've
been delivered from the second death. How? By the death of Christ. By the death of Christ. All our
sins are bought and paid for and now we have eternal life.
See the context of what is being written. Now we have eternal
life because Christ died before God in our place. He paid that
which God demanded for our sins Now we're made the righteousness
of God and our sins were imputed to him and he paid it all, beloved. Now note that the particular
sin here is not mentioned, but we can know two things. First,
that it's not unto death. If any man see his brother sin
a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give
him life for them that sin not unto death. So the particular
sin is not mentioned. Beloved, every single sin in its own nature is deserving
of death. The proper wages of sin is death,
eternal death, and yet none of the sins of God's elect are unto
death. because they've been bought and
paid for by the precious blood of Christ. And this is talking
the second death, beloved. By the grace of God, the blood
and righteousness of Christ, the believer in Christ is pardoned
and justified, free from the punishment of our sins, free
from eternal death, because Christ died in our place. What a Savior. Now again, I always have to preface
this, this does not give us a license to sin. No. God forbid. This portion of scripture
is talking about if we see our brother or sister has fallen
into a state of sin that is so obviously and openly visible,
we're to pray for them, beloved. We're to pray for them. And again,
take note that the particular sin is not mentioned. but we
can know that it's not unto death, and secondly, that it has affected
the relationship with the other brethren. Fellowship has been
harmed and the joy of salvation is apparently missing. So what
are we to do then, beloved? What is God's will for us in
this situation? Are we to put him on some sort
of probation? Are we to forbid him to partake
of the Lord's table? Are we to shun him? No, beloved, we're to pray for
His recovery, knowing full and well that if God left us to ourselves,
knowing full and well that if God left us to ourselves, we
can and we have been in the same fix. Therefore, we are to pray for
our brothers and sisters and ask that God's will be done. And the sin unto death is generally
said to be the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit, which
is attributing the works of Christ to the devil. And this sin certainly
falls into that category. However, the context of this
verse puts this sin in that of Antichrist. Because remember,
John's been contrasting Christ with Antichrist. Or those who deny that Christ
came into the flesh. See again, the context of the
whole letter. Or those who deny that they sin? Or those who walk in darkness
but say they walk in light? To those who are apostates or
reprobates for whom there is no recovery? They've heard the gospel preached
and proclaimed, they profess to believe it, but they've returned
like a dog to its vomit. Or like a pig to its stall. And they say they walk in the
light, but in reality they have no fellowship with God. They
deceive themselves and there's no light in them. And we see in verse 17 a very
plain statement. All unrighteousness is sin. And
there is a sin not unto death. Beloved of God, all unrighteousness
is sin against God. It's all deserving of death. And yet, all unrighteousness
is not unto death, the scripture declares. First, because of the grace of
God. Because of the grace of God. Second, because of the blood
of Christ by which we are justified and freely forgiven, beloved. And third, because of the mercy
of God. There's a sin not unto death.
David's sins, Jacob's sins, Peter's sins were not unto death. Because they enjoyed repentance
unto life and a fresh application of pardon and grace and glory
be to our great God. As we see, sin is inexcusable,
but in the child of God it will never lead to eternal death. because the Son of God has come
and has died in the room and place of his people. And what
do we say to that? Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Gracious Heavenly
Father, what a salvation we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ. What a salvation we have which
has come from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will never be able to praise
Thee enough, O Lord. But one day we will worship You
face to face, Lord Jesus, and we will see Thee who is our Redeemer. We will see Thee who has paid
all our sins, paid for all our sins. We will see the one in
whom's blood we are washed clean. And Lord Jesus, we will rejoice.
We will rejoice. So let we who believe upon this
earth have confidence only in Thee, O Lord, and trust only
in Thee. May ye be glorified by the preaching
of your word, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's close tonight.