Sermons

A Compelling Conclusion

February 22, 2019 Preacher: Gareth Franks Series: Letters of John - Knowing, Walking & Living the Truth

Topic: Foundations, Christian Living Scripture: 1 John 5:14–21

Home Group Study, Sermon Date: 22 February 2019

Text: 1 John 5:14-15

 

Opening Discussion: When you were a child, did you ever write a Christmas list to Santa Claus? What was the most extravagant gift that you asked for? Did you ever get any of the gifts that you requested?

Observation - What does God’s word say?

It’s often said, “It’s not what you know but who you know that matters in life.” While there is some truth to this, most people would not relate it to knowing Jesus, the One about whom John said, if you have him, you have life—if you don’t have him, you don’t have life. In this matter, Who you know is of first importance—what you know follows. Our confidence is never in ourselves, but rather in Christ. After reminding us of our sympathetic high priest, the author of Hebrews states (4:16), “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”. Our confidence is never in anything in ourselves, but only in Jesus Christ, whose blood gives us access to the very throne of God.

What are your observations from the passage below?  

Read: 

  • 1 Kings 18:20-39

Meaning - What does God’s word mean?

Read: 

  • 1 John 5:13-15

Verse 14 is closely connected with verse 13 (The Greek text opens with the word, “And”). Confidence in prayer is founded on the assurance that you have eternal life. If you do not have eternal life, there is no way that you can pray according to the will of God, except to pray that God would save you from your sins. The promise of our text is only for God’s children. The promise is:

As believers we have confidence that God will answer our prayers, if we pray carefully according to His will.

John has just assured his audience that they may know they have eternal life in Jesus—it’s the reason he wrote this letter. From this assurance flows confidence in the believer’s relationship with Jesus and in what they know. If we are in Christ, we know God hears us. Prayer is the way believers communicate with God. It’s conversation with the heavenly Father that helps submit one’s own will to his will.

John has already brought up this idea of having confidence in prayer and of a promise of answered prayer, if we are obedient to God. John said in chapter 3:21-22, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” Here in our text (5:14,15), he repeats it for emphasis. Prayer is not optional for God’s children. It is absolutely essential, because if you do not pray, you are not living by faith in God. If you do not pray, you are trusting in yourself, which is exactly how the world lives.

Application - How must I change?

  • Is there a Truth to be believed?

Read Matthew 6:9–10, John 15:7 and 16:23–24, and Matthew 26:39. How do Jesus’ words and example help you understand what John says about having what we ask of him?

  • Is there an Attitude to be fostered?

How do we know that we can’t ask for and get just anything from God? In other words, what is the qualification John gives for the “anything” in verse 14?

  • Is there a Behavior to be changed?

John says in the first part of verse 14, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him…” If you have more confidence toward God, how does (should) that affect; a) how you live and; b) how you pray?

Conclusion

In 1921, Thomas Edison, with many inventions to his credit, said, “We don’t know the millionth part of one percent about anything. We don’t know what water is. We don’t know what light is. We don’t know what gravitation is. We don’t know what electricity is. We don’t know what heat is. We have a lot of hypotheses about these things, but that is all. But we do not let our ignorance about all these thing deprive us of their use” (cited by Lehman Strauss, Sense and Nonsense About Prayer [Moody Press], p. 122).

In the same way, there is much that we do not understand about prayer and we will never understand in this life. But, we should not let that keep us from using it in accordance with what we do know. We do know that if we are children of God, we have confidence before God that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us and will grant our requests. So, let us pray at all times and not lose heart (Luke 18:1)!

 

Prayer Points:

  1. Pray for NLC to know they have eternal life in Christ.
  2. Pray for NLC to experience a greater level of confidence in God that will affect our daily life and prayer life.
  3. Pray for NLC to persevere in their faith in Christ through the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

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