Introduction:
A. In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote this famous statement, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
1. This past week we have witnessed the certainty of both.
2. Our taxes were due – and some of us even got a needed extension because of the weather.
3. And tragically, we all witnessed the results of the massacre at Virginia Tech. Death can come when we expect it, and when we don’t.
4. Our hearts and prayers to go out to the families of all the victims of this tragedy. May God comfort and strengthen them.
5. We, human beings, have a deep desire for certainty, don’t we?
6. But we live in a world of disbelief.
7. Postmodern prophets seem to say that uncertainty is the only thing we can be sure about.
B. Let me give you this example of the uncertainty that bombards us every day – Those of us who are interested in living and eating in healthy ways regularly hear conflicting and contradictory information.
1. We are left completely confused about what’s good and bad for us.
2. One day we hear how bad sugary soft drinks are for us, but then next day we hear that artificial sweeteners are unhealthy so we are better off drinking the sugared ones.
3. Some days we hear that being overweight is bad for us, but then the next day a new study shows that being overweight is good for us.
4. We hear chocolate is bad for us, then we hear that chocolate is good for us. (That’s my idea of a great diet – chocolate!)
5. We hear that alcohol is bad, then we hear that alcohol is good.
6. We hear that vitamin supplements are necessary, then we hear that a different study shows that they make no difference at all.
7. We hear coffee is good, then coffee is bad.
8. One day the experts are singing the praises of low fat, high fiber, then the next day it is high fat, low carb.
9. So, many Americans just give up and eat their “Whopper and Fries” and just don’t worry about it.
C. So, in this world of confusion and false information, when scientists are constantly changing their theories and politicians change their stances, John assures us that there are some things we can know for certain.
1. As we finish up our sermon series on John’s first letter, we see that his last section is brimming with confidence and assurance.
2. In these short, 8 verses, John uses the word “know”, no less than 7 times.
3. He wants us to know that there are several very important things that we can know.
4. John points us to some truths that cannot be denied and will never change.
4. These are things we can be confident of; things of which we can be sure.
5. There is a boldness that goes along with our faith as we take God at His Word.
6. Are you interested in knowing what these certainties are?
I. Certainty #1: We can have Confidence in Eternal Life.
A. John wrote, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (vs. 13)
1. This is our promise and possession from God – we can know that we have eternal life.
2. So many people over the centuries have been told just the opposite.
3. They have been left with the impression that having eternal life was the one thing that a person can never know for sure.
4. But I tell you today, God does not want us living with that kind of insecurity.
5. God wants us to know that we have eternal life.
6. Those of us who believe in Jesus and have been washed in the blood of the Lamb have been added to the church, and therefore know that we have eternal life.
B. Listen to a few other verses in Scripture that tell us that we can count on this promise.
1. John 3:15, “that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
2. John 3:16, “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
3. John 3:36, “Whoever puts his faith in the Son has eternal life…”
4. John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
5. Let me give you one more for good measure: Rom. 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
C. Eternal life is a gift. It is not something we earn or achieve.
1. This gift is ultimately a person – Jesus Christ.
2. John has already told us in this letter, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (5:11-12)
3. As Christians, we need never doubt or be confused about this issue.
4. If we are in Christ, then we can say with confidence that we know that we have eternal life.
5. And so, in times of confusion, loss or desperation, the first truth of which we can be certain is God’s promise of eternal life.
II. Certainty #2: We can have Confidence in Prayer.
A. We can be certain that God hears and answers our prayers.
1. Read with me again verses 14-17, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.”
2. I don’t want us to get lost in the many questions that come when the subject of prayer is discussed.
3. We must keep in mind that John is trying to give these folks and us assurance.
4. To read the passage any other way is to miss the point.
5. So, what is the simple, straightforward point? We can have confidence knowing that God hears and answers our prayers.
6. This is a simple truth that is often repeated in Scripture.
B. That having been said, we must remember that prayer is not a blank check.
1. The promises of prayer are always given with conditions.
2. We must never think that a well-formed and heartfelt prayer will get us anything we want.
3. Prayer is not a means for deploying God’s unlimited resources to our limited understanding or to our selfishness.
4. We misunderstand prayer when we think of it was a chance to cash in on God.
5. The primary purpose of prayer is to draw closer to God and to become more yielded to His will.
6. And so an important aspect of prayer is submitting my will to God’s rather than trying to get God to submit His will to mine.
7. So, John says, “if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” (vs. 14-15)
8. John would say that those who walk in the light as He is in the light, don’t make a habit of praying to God for things that obviously are not according to his will.
C. Another thing we note is that John envisions us praying for the needs of others.
1. The subject of prayer should not be me, myself, and I.
2. Specifically, John has in mind prayers for another person in the faith community that we see wrestling with sin.
3. John’s language here is a bit confusing, because he distinguishes between sins that are not unto death and sins that are. “What in the world does he mean by that?” You might be asking.
4. John is urging prayer for Christians whose lives are marked by a degree of sin that has not lead to their eternal death.
5. For non-Christians, all sin leads to death, but for Christians, such is not the case.
6. So, John distinguishes Christian sinners from those Christians whose sins are intentional, whose lives have separated them from the community, and who no longer have divine life in them.
7. In the context of John’s letter, this group no doubt includes the secessionists, who have allied themselves with darkness and have left the Christian community.
8. They are no longer with God; they are with the antichrist.
9. Therefore, the sin which ultimately leads to death is the denial that Jesus is the Son of God who came in the flesh.
10. For those who have rejected Jesus in this way, there is no reason to pray for their forgiveness, because there is no forgiveness for those who have rejected Jesus.
D. But let’s get back to John’s main point.
1. As John tries to give assurance, he declares that we can know that God hears and responds to our prayers.
2. Of that we can be sure. And that can give us comfort and confidence.
III. Certainty #3: We can have Confidence in our Victory over Sin and Satan.
A. Let me draw our attention back to the text, verse 18 says, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.”
1. What John wants us to be sure about is that God provides us with the power to overcome sin and Satan.
2. When John talks about not “continuing in sin,” he has in mind living in sin; being defiant with sin.
3. He is not talking about being tempted to sin, or having occasional sin.
4. You remember earlier in this letter, John said things like, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1:8)
5. And, “I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (2:1)
6. So, John is not saying that God expects sinless perfection from us.
B. The good news that is wrapped up in this is that the help that God gives us enables us to overcome Satan and sin.
1. We who have been born of God are set free from sin. Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God that , though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed. You have been set free from sin and have becomes slaves of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:17-18)
2. And even though Satan can still tempt us, God promises to give us a measure of safety so that the evil one cannot harm us.
3. Paul gave us that wonderful promise in 1 Cor. 10:13, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
4. We can be confident that despite the trials and temptations of life, we have the power to overcome sin and Satan through Him who keeps us.
5. Although we may get discouraged and frustrated at times when we give in to temptation, we must not give up and give ourselves over to sin.
IV. Certainty #4: We can have Confidence in Belonging to God.
A. This is a promise about our position in Christ – we are a child of God.
1. Look at verse 19, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
2. There are actually two truths in this verse: “we are children of God” and “the world is under the control of the evil one.”
3. In other words, we know to whom we belong, and we know where we belong.
4. We are God’s, and since this world is presently under the control of Satan, we really don’t belong here.
5. I love the song, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing thru…I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
B. As we have seen throughout this letter, John is drawing sharp boundary lines between the church and the world; between light and darkness; between God and the evil one.
1. We, Christians, the children of God, we presently reside in enemy territory, but we need not fear for we are God’s children, and he is with us wherever we are.
2. We belong to God, and our place is with Him.
3. We know that He hears our prayers, and that He keeps us and provides for us, just as any good parent does for their child.
V. Certainty #5: We can have Confidence in Christ.
A. What do we know? We know that the Son of God has come and that He is the true God and eternal life.
1. Look at verse 20, “We know also 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—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
2. How fitting is it that John’s letter ends this way.
3. Throughout his letter he has promoted and defended the full divinity of Christ.”
4. Our faith must be in nothing or no one other than Jesus.
5. He is the true God and eternal life.
B. Everyone and everything else falls short.
1. In John’s gospel he says that Jesus is the true light. The true Bread. The true Vine. And the Truth itself.
2. That’s why John concludes so abruptly, “Dear Children, keep yourselves from idols.”
3. In John’s day there were multitudes of physical idols that people worshiped.
4. If this letter first went to the church at Ephesus, which is what many scholars believe, then we know that Ephesus was a city given over to the worship of idols.
5. The temple of Diana, one of the wonders of the ancient world, was located in Ephesus, and the making and selling of idols was one of the chief occupations of the people there.
6. But idolatry in general is simply replacing God and faith in His Son with something or someone else as the source of meaning and purpose in life.
7. Just as it was in that day, idolatry continues to be a great risk to our assurance of eternal life.
8. So, John urges the people of his day and us as well, to watch out for anything that may become a substitute for God.
9. We know that Jesus is the real deal, we must not a deal or trade for anything else.
10. To do so is to lose it all.
Conclusion:
A. So what do we know? What can we be certain and confident about? John says we can be sure about the following:
1. We can know that we have eternal life.
2. We can know that God hears and answers our prayers.
3. We can know that we have victory over sin and Satan.
4. We can know that we are God’s children, and that the world is under Satan’s control.
5. We can know that the Son of God has come and that he is the true God and eternal life.
B. Those are things worth knowing and believing!
C. Let me end with this illustration.
1. Sometime when you’re in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who hold confirmed tickets and those who are on standby.
2. The ones with confirmed tickets read newspapers, chat with their friends or take a nap.
3. The ones on standby hang around the ticket counter, look worried and pace.
4. The difference is caused by the confidence factor.
5. If you knew that in fifteen minutes you would have to stand in judgment before the Holy God and learn your eternal destiny, what would your reaction be?
6. Would you look worried and pace?
7. Would you say to yourself, “I don’t know what God’s going to say--will it be ‘Welcome home, child,’ or will it be ‘Depart from me; I never knew you’”?
D. John’s point is that we don’t have to live with that kind of uncertainty.
1. We can know if we are right with God. And we should know.
2. John wrote, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…” (5:1)
3. John wrote, “He who has the Son has life…” (5:12)
4. Paul wrote, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gal. 3:26-27)
5. Once we are in Christ, then all we must do is remain in Christ.
6. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
7. So, where are you today? Are you in Christ? Are you remaining in Christ?
8. If so, then enjoy the comfort and confidence of knowing that you have eternal life.
9. But if you know that you are not in Christ, or not remaining in Christ, then please recognize how serious is your situation.
10. Don’t delay in believing or obeying Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior.
