All right, let's go back to 1
John chapter 5. Now, there's a little change
that I've made in this message today. For example, if you look
at your bulletin, the title of the message is the same, The
Confidence We Have in Christ. And that's what I want to major
on this morning. But the scriptural notation says
1 John 5, 14 through 21. But I'm going to change that.
It's going to be 1 John 5, 14 and 15, just the first two verses
here. The reason I decided to do that
is when you start talking about a sin unto death and a sin that
is not unto death, that requires a little more time than what
I have for one message. So I'm going to deal with that
next week. But just so that you can sleep
at night this week, the sin unto death is literally the ultimate
forsaking of Christ. Forsaking of Christ. He that
hath the Son hath life. There's no death, no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. So when he speaks of a sin unto
death, he's talking about apostasy. A person that totally forsakes
Christ for salvation. That's sin unto death. Because
Christ is everlasting life. And when he talks about a sin
not unto death, that's the sin of God's people that's covered
by the blood of Christ. And so I'll talk about some,
so you can sleep at night this week. Don't be thinking about,
oh, have I committed the unpardonable sin and all that. I'm going to
deal with all that next week. That's just the vices of men
used to try to scare people into showing up for church. or giving
their money. I want you to show up for church,
don't get me wrong, but I don't want to legalistic scare you
into it. I just want you to be here because
it's good for you. It's like Moses said, come go
with us, we'll do you good. Because we're going to preach
Christ and he is our good. So we're going to look at that.
So in these first few verses here, verses 14, look at verse
14. This is the confidence that we
have in him. The confidence we have in Christ. Talking about assurance of salvation. That's what it's talking about.
When God gives faith to his people and brings them to repentance,
that glorious, miraculous change of mind and heart, that causes
them to turn away from themselves, turn away from their sins, even
turn away from their own supposed righteousnesses, and turns them
to Christ. That faith, that God-given faith,
which is the gift of God, looks to and rests in the Lord Jesus
Christ for all salvation. All righteousness. That kind
of faith doesn't look within. for righteousness, for goodness.
It looks to Christ for righteousness and goodness. All forgiveness,
my hope is built on nothing less. You see, that's why we sing that
song. All life, all my preservation, all my glory in Christ. And that's assurance of salvation
that we have in him, the confidence that we have in him and by him.
Years ago, I heard a man preach a message on faith and assurance.
And he made this statement. He said, faith and assurance
are not the same thing. You can have faith without assurance.
Well, if you read the Bible, that's just not so. It's just
not so. Now, I know there are times that
believers have to fight the remaining corruption of doubt. We do. In fact, I think that's what
it's talking about in Hebrews chapter 12. It talks about the
sin that so easily besets us. It's talking about our doubts,
our misgivings. And how do we fight those? That's
part of the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. How do we fight
that sin that so easily besets us? Well, he tells us in verse
2, by looking unto Jesus as what? The author, that is the beginner,
and the finisher, the completer, of our faith. He did it all. Somebody said, well, I don't
doubt Christ, I doubt myself. Well, you ought to doubt yourself. But what does self have to do
with attaining or maintaining salvation? Now, ourselves, we're
the recipients of salvation. We're the objects of salvation.
We're told to examine ourselves whether we be what? In the faith.
In other words, am I really looking to Christ for all my salvation?
Or am I looking somewhere else? That's what that means. Am I
really trusting him and him alone? Or do I find confidence somewhere
else? Faith, my friend, and assurance
go together. How can you believe something to be true and not
believe it to be true? That's impossible. But the issue
of faith was settled in the scripture, the assurance of faith. Paul
stated it in 2 Timothy 1.12, he said, I know whom I have believed
and I am persuaded that he is able. Not that I'm able, I'm
not, you're not. But that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day. Now what have
I committed unto him? I'll tell you what I've committed
unto Christ. My whole salvation, my whole justification, my whole
sanctification, my whole preservation, my whole eternal life and glory
is committed to Christ. It's in his hands. Remember what
he said about his sheep? No man plucks them out of my
father's hands. My assurance is in Him, and that's
what John's talking about here. Our confidence, our assurance
is in Christ. It's never in ourselves. It's
never in our works, no matter how good we think them to be,
and they're not good according to God's standard. Even our works
have to, we're worshiping God right now, aren't we? You know
the reason that that worship, and when we pray, and when we
praise him in hymns, and when I preach the gospel, do you know
how that's made acceptable to God? Well, he's looking at every
one of you, seeing how sincere you are. No? If that were the case, even if
you are sincere, and I hope you are, if that were the case, what
is the measure of sincerity that you have to reach to be acceptable
to God? Perfection, isn't it? That fleeting
thought that passed through your brain while I'm preaching? That
just corrupted everything you thought. Isn't that right? We're sinners saved by grace.
What does it take for God to accept our worship, our praises,
our prayers? It takes the blood of Jesus Christ. That was pictured back in the
old tabernacle, wasn't it? the fire that went up, the smoke
that went up from the altar, the sweet-smelling savor. That's
Christ our mediator, Jesus Christ the righteous interceding for
us. He ever lives to intercede for His people. Why does He have
to do that? Because we're only accepted of
God. Please God in Him. Our confidence is in Him. Our attempts to be better. Should
we try to be better people? Yes. But it's not going to make
us righteous. It's not going to save us. Even when we make improvements
in our character and our conduct, is that what saves us? No. Is
that what makes us acceptable to God? No. It's always in Christ
alone. Verse 14, this is the confidence
that we have in Him. Some translations read, concerning
Him. But what's the important word
here? Him. H-I-M, Christ, crucified, risen
from the dead. Christ, His blood to forgive
us from all our sins. Cleanses me from all my sins.
Even, I'll never forget when I was, when I first started going
to 13th Street Baptist Church back in the late 70s. And I was
an unbeliever. I only went because my mother
was there. I felt sorry for her. And I heard Brother Mahan standing
up behind the pulpit and he said, there's enough sin in the best
prayer I've ever prayed to sink a world to hell. I thought he
was crazy. I thought, I told my mother,
there's something wrong with that guy. And then when the Lord brought
me to a saving knowledge of Christ and a saving knowledge of myself,
I understood exactly what he's talking about. His righteousness to justify
me. That's His alone. It's what He
accomplished in His obedience unto death. My sins accounted
to Him. His righteousness accounted to
me. By Himself He purged my sins and sat down on the right hand
of the Father on high. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." It's his goodness, his power
to preserve us under glory. We read that passage that Paul
wrote in Galatians 6. God forbid that I should glory. That word glory means to have
confidence in. It means to boast. I've got something
to brag about today. That's what preaching is. It's
boasting, but not about me, and not about you. It's boasting
about Christ. I'm gonna brag on him. Oh, John
the Baptist had it right. I'm not the Messiah. I'm not
the light. Here behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins
of the world. I'm not even worthy to tie his
shoes or untie him. He must increase, and I've got
to decrease. Brother Mahan used to tell us
in the preacher school, he said, preach Christ and get out of
the way. I don't want to stand in your
way. And if the Holy Spirit's drawing you to him, it'd be impossible
for me to do so, wouldn't it? That's irresistible, invincible
grace. God forbid that I should glory, boast, have confidence,
except in one thing. And he says, the cross of Christ.
Now I've heard preachers say, well, we trust in his person,
but not in his work. Oh no, you can't separate the
two. He is Jesus. Meaning what? He shall save his
people from their sins. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Who he is in his person was required
because of the work that he had to do. And what was that work? He had to put away my sins and
establish righteousness for me. That's the cross. You see, the
preaching of the cross is not preaching of God's attempt to
save everybody. That's not it. That's not the
Christ of the cross. That's not glorying in the cross.
If Christ died to save everybody, even for those who perish, then
you've got to glory in something else other than the cross. You've
got to glory in your faith, your decision, your works, whatever.
My friend, that's not a biblical assurance of salvation. Oh yes, we're required to believe,
but our believing looks to Christ. as making the whole difference.
We're required to repent, but we repent of ever thinking that
we made the difference. We're required to persevere,
but we persevere only because he keeps that which we've committed
unto him against that day. Philippians 3.3 says, we are
the circumcision, that means spiritually circumcised, the
heart, new birth. which worship God in spirit and
rejoice, same word as glory, rejoice, have confidence in Christ
and no confidence in the flesh. Turn to Hebrews chapter six,
let me show you this. There are those who say that
God doesn't really want us to have assurance of salvation because
it's presumption. But that's not right. Look at
Hebrews 6, 17, or look at verse 15 of Hebrews 6. Presumption is a confidence,
a hope, an assurance of salvation based upon false premises. For example, if my assurance
of salvation is based upon some experience I had when I was 12,
walking in and out and getting baptized, that's presumption. If my experience is based upon
anything done by me or in me, that's presumption. But if my
assurance is based upon what Christ alone accomplished on
Calvary in his death, burial, and resurrection, that's faith,
brother. That's assurance that glorifies
God. But look here, he's talking about
Abraham. Verse 15, and so after Abraham had patiently endured,
he obtained the promise. Verse 16, for men verily swear
by the greater. And an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. When men strike an oath, they
swear by something greater than themselves. He says, wherein
God, verse 17, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability, the fact that his counsel cannot change, Confirmed
it by an oath. God swore an oath. Men swear
an oath, they swear by something greater than themselves and that's
the end of all strife. But he's saying God here for
the heirs of promise, that's his elect. That's the redeemed
of the Lord. That's those whom he justified
based on the righteousness of Christ. He swore an oath. But
look at verse 18. that by two immutable things,
two unchangeable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation, strong comfort, strong assurance,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. Now what hope is set before us?
Verse 20, whether the forerunner for us entered. That's Jesus
Christ, the forerunner. Even Jesus made an high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. In other words, our confidence
is based upon God's immutable promise and oath. And what does
it say here? It says here that it's impossible
for God to lie. Look at it again, the immutability
of his counsel, he confirmed it by an oath. And what did God
swear by? There's nothing greater than
God. He swore by himself. He engaged himself into this
promise of salvation for his people by Christ. Do you realize
that God cannot lie? He can't tell a lie. He's faithful. He saves completely all his people
who come to him Christ. Now you come to him any other
way and expect salvation? That's self-righteousness. That's unbelievable. But remember
Cain? He came based on his works. That's
what John's talking about over here. This is the confidence
we have in him. Now let me give you this point.
Our confidence in Christ, the God-given faith, God-given confidence
in Christ forms the motive and inspiration for our whole lives
as believers. See, the reason unbelievers see
true grace Salvation by God's grace alone. Salvation based
upon Christ's righteousness imputed alone. The reason unbelievers
see that as an excuse to sin, and that's what, you remember,
if you've ever told anybody, witnessed anybody about grace,
I have this on TV all the time, people will write, and they say,
well, if I believe what you believe, I just sin all I want to. Well,
you do anyway. You just don't know it. You just
think it's better than what it is. But when you, you remember
Paul dealt with this in Romans five and six. He talked about
how, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And then in verse, chapter six,
he anticipated the objection that would come from the legalists,
the unbelievers. Well, shall we sin that grace
may abound? He said, God forbid. Well, the
reason that unbelievers see that as an excuse to sin is what it
does. It exposes and removes their
unholy motive for obedience. What is their unholy motive?
Well, it comes in two forms. Legalism, fear of punishment. If I don't do this, God's going
to kill me or throw me into hell. That's legalism. Trying to establish
a righteous or mercenary. trying to earn their way into
God's favor. The gospel exposes that as being
evil and wicked because it denies the glory of God, it denies Christ.
It exalts the sinner. But you see, when the Holy Spirit
makes that gospel, the power of God unto salvation, he removes
that unholy motive and he replaces it with a holy motive, the motive
of grace, the motive of love, the motive of gratitude. He makes
us willing, loving, bond servants of Christ. Talked about that
this morning. The assurance of God's grace in Christ makes us
willing, loving, bond servants of Christ as opposed to legal,
forced slaves and mercenaries and hirelings. So this assurance,
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood to a believer,
a sinner saved by grace, that is the greatest motive for obedience,
isn't it? That's the greatest motive for
worship and praise and service. That's it, but that's a God-given
motive. That natural motive is evil. Now, back here in 1 John 5, John
talks about the fact, he says in verse 14, this is the confidence
that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to
his will, he heareth us. Verse 15, and if we know that
he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions
that we desired of him. Now, a lot of commentators, they
focus in on the issue of prayer here. And I'm going to do that.
I'm going to talk about prayer just a little bit. But mainly,
you know what he's talking about? He's talking about salvation.
He's talking about the forgiveness of sins. He's talking about being
accepted with God. That's the context. And here's
what he's saying. If you ask God for salvation,
and here's the key, and it's the key in prayer, all prayer,
according to his will, then you'll have it. That's what he's saying,
according to his will. Now that's talking about God's
revealed will. Now how does God promise salvation
to his people? It's totally 100% by his sovereign
grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ based upon his blood and
righteousness alone. That's why we sing, our hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
That's why Paul wrote, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross. That's why our hope is in the
forerunner. We can approach, listen, if we
know Christ, if we see that he alone is our righteousness, we
have complete free liberty to enter the holiest of all. In
whatever way, worship, service, prayer, by the blood of Jesus. That's our confidence. By his
blood. We're gonna sing at the end of
the service, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. Nothing else can do it. Tears
of repentance can't do it. Coming to church can't do it.
The baptismal pool can't wash away your sins. It's the blood
of Christ. That means he paid the debt. But what about prayer? If we ask anything according
to his will, he heareth us. Well, that doesn't mean that
when we as believers pray to God, that if we ask him to give
us anything, then we'll get anything we ask for. That's just not the
way it works. And he tells us that's not the
way it works. Get on your knees today and pray that God will
give you a million dollars. I hope he does. But he may not. Why wouldn't he give you a million
dollars? Well, whatever he gives, I know you haven't earned it
and you don't deserve it, so it's a free gift. I know that. But it just may be that you couldn't
handle a million dollars. Maybe you might go crazy with
it. We might never see you again. You may end up in the Bahamas
somewhere laying on a beach. Who knows? I don't know. Maybe
you could handle it. I don't know. Only God knows
that. But I know this, he certainly,
you pray for health. I prayed for years that God would
cure my heart problems. He hasn't done it. It's his will. According to his will. For some
reason, it's his will that I have these problems, whatever problem
you've got. All of that. So the key to it, it says, if
we ask anything according to his will. Now it says he hears
us. When you were children, you ever ask mom and dad for anything?
They heard you. What was the answer sometimes?
No. Mom, can I have this? Dad, can
I have that? No. First thing you ask is, why,
why? And when they finally get tired
of hearing you say, why, why, what do they say? Because I said
so. Sometimes that's how the Lord
deals with us. We're his children. He taught his disciples to pray
this way. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. Turn to Hebrews chapter four,
though. Let me show you. What is our confidence in prayer? Is it our own works? Is it our efforts to obey God? Is it the fact that we've had
a good day today or had a bad day? Is it the sincerity of our
prayers? Is that what makes it acceptable
to God? Is that what gives us confidence? And the answer to all those is
no, no, no, no, no. Look at Hebrews 4 verse 14. Hebrews 4 verse 14, seeing then
that we have what? A great high priest. Now who
is that? That is passed into the heavens
or passed through the heavens. What does that mean? That means
this is a great high priest who's gone into the very presence of
almighty, holy, God. Jesus, the son of God, that's
who he is. The name Jesus means salvation.
So he's talking about Christ as our surety, our substitute,
whose blood has paid for all of our sins and whose righteousness
justifies us before God. He's passed through the heavens.
Seeing then that he is our great high priest, he's our surety,
our substitute, our representative, our sacrifice, our sin-bearer,
our redeemer. Let us hold fast our profession.
Cling to Christ. Hold on for dear life, as one
old preacher said. Hold on to Christ for dear life.
Don't let go. Like Jacob wrestling with the
angel. He's not going to let go. Verse
15, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. Christ in his humanity suffered
all of the sinless infirmities, weaknesses that come with being
a human being. Except for one difference, but
was in all points tested like as we are, yet without sin. Christ
in his humanity, he hungered, he grew tired, he wept, and ultimately
he suffered, he bled, he died. All sinless infirmities in themselves,
just the weaknesses of flesh. Now he died because of sin imputed
to him. Sin charged to him. He was made
sin and he was guilty, subject to God's wrath. But all the weaknesses
of human flesh that he suffered were sinless in and of themselves.
Sin was not transferred to him in any way. He was not contaminated
or corrupted with our sin, but our sin was charged to him. And
that was real. And in the same way, his righteousness
is charged to us. But he was in all points tempted,
tested like as we are, yet he was tempted and tested without
sin. When we're tempted, I heard a man say one time, he said,
it's not a sin to be tempted, but just to give into it. And
I asked him, I said, are you for real? The reason that we're tempted
to sin is because of our sinful desires. And that's why we have
to continually pray to God, forgive us of our sins. So he says in
verse 16, because we have a great high priest, let us therefore
come boldly, confidently. Assuredly, unto the throne of
what? Grace, that's what we need every
time we pray. We need it every hour, need it
every second, grace. That we may obtain mercy, that's
what we need, mercy. And find grace to help in time
of need. And when's our time of need?
Well, we're just a needy bunch. I need Christ all the time, how
about you? And that's prayer. Turn to James
chapter five. I want to deal with this verse
and then the issue of prayer. You know, a lot of people have
a lot of questions about prayer, especially in light of God's
sovereignty. Look at James chapter 5 and look at verse 14. He's talking
about sickness. James 5, 14. Is any sick among
you? Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray
over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall
raise him up. And if he committed sins, they
shall be forgiven him." The prayer of faith. Verse 16, confess your faults
one to another. That doesn't mean that we're
supposed to get together and air out our dirty laundry or
anything like that. That just simply means that I'm
to tell you right now that as a preacher standing behind this
pulpit, preaching the gospel of Christ, that if God were to
give this old sinner what I've earned or deserved, it would
be eternal death. Right now. My hope is built on nothing less,
right now, than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And he says, The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Now who is the righteous
man there? That's a sinner saved by grace. Made righteous in Christ. This is the confidence we have
in Christ. I have confidence that I'm righteous
before God because of Christ. And it avails much. And he said
that the effectual prayer there Somebody's sick. The prayer of
faith shall save the sick. Well, that's true. Does that
mean every time that we get together and pray for somebody's healing
that they're gonna be healed physically? No. Even James knew
that. Just didn't happen. Sometimes
it does. Sometimes we find out that it's
the will of God to heal somebody physically. Isn't that great?
Now, he does it by means. But sometimes he saves them by
taking them on to glory. Do you know that? And you know
what that is? That's the ultimate healing.
That's the ultimate salvation. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. That's the key. Pray according
to God's, prayer is an act, listen, prayer is an act of faith, praying
to God through Christ. It's an act of humility. God,
I'm totally dependent on you. Give us this day our daily bread.
It's an expression of our total dependence upon God. Prayer is
a God-given means that God uses to accomplish his sovereign will.
Prayer doesn't change God's mind. And you can get 15 million people
to pray, and it's still not gonna change God's mind. Prayer's not
a witness before men. I've told people, I said, you
know, you go out here and you make a public spectacle of yourself
to pray. Somebody said, well, I want people
to know I'm a Christian. They're not gonna know that.
The world doesn't know us, scripture says. And when Christ told his
disciples to pray, he said, pray in your closet. Not to be seen
of men. If you wanna witness to people,
get them down and tell them the gospel. Tell them about Christ.
That's what witnessing is. The power of prayer is not In
the prayer itself, where it's sincere, it's in the great high
priest. Jesus Christ the righteous. He
is the power of prayer. And sometimes we find out what
God, well, anytime we find out what God's will in our lives,
it's after the fact, isn't it? Somebody said, well, what's God's
will for you on Monday? I don't know, but Monday night
I'll be able to tell you something about it. That's what I'm saying. But I know it's his will, isn't
it? All right.