During the first half of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco 23 workmen fell to their death. Working on the project became so dangerous that they halted construction of the bridge to install a huge net at the cost of $100,000 (a large sum in the early 1930’s). After the net was installed no one lost their life on the project and efficiency on the job increased by 25%.
Having the net under them made the workers more confident and more efficient!
Today we want to look into God’s safety net. We’re going to look at God’ truths that can make us more confident and efficient.
Today’s message, “Living with Confidence,” is the final part of the series “Made to Count, Am I Living a Life that Matters?” This series is based on the Apostle John’s first letter to the Christ followers of the first century who needed their confidence bolstered because of the attacks on their faith being advanced by agitators trying to stir up trouble.
These false teachers in John’s day weren’t just sincere people with honest questions. Nothing wrong at all with people like that. They were antagonists who wanted to rationalize their selfish lifestyles by telling lies about the Christian faith.
The same game is being played today. The Word of God, especially what the Bible says about Christ, is under constant attack. Misinformation is being spread at an alarming rate. Last week during the Easter weekend several TV networks decided to air supposed “documentary” programs that question the most basic tenets of the Christian message about Christ.
It was appalling, not because Christianity can’t stand up to testing. We saw last week in 1 John chapter four that faith in Christ is founded on testing. The problem with the steady stream of anti-Christian content is that it is unfounded, undocumented and unquestionably in error. The critics of Christianity are utilizing “made up” information. Fabrications, fiction and fantasia – that’s how we can describe a lot of the anti-Christian rhetoric in our culture today.
Most notoriously are the “Gnostic Gospels” that have been proliferated on the Internet, in books, etc. Problem is, not one of the Gnostic Gospels stands up to testing. Most importantly, none of them can be said to truly have been written in the first century like the authenticatable Good News accounts we have in the Bible – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Since they were NOT authored in the First Century, they were NOT authored by people who knew Jesus. They are not eyewitness testimony like what’s in the Bible.
Some examples:
1) The Gospel of Thomas, an anti-women document, which is ironic, since many people have the mistaken notion that these Gnostic Gospels uplift the role of women. After close scrutiny it was discovered that this document borrowed from a Harmony of the Gospels written in AD 175 (The Diatesaron) by the church father Tatian.
2) The Gospel of Peter, that includes such fanciful stories as 2 angels whose heads reach all the way to the clouds and a talking cross! That’s fantasia. That’s not miracles. We know that this is not a first century document because it includes the story of the ruling Jewish priest spending a night in a cemetery – something anyone with knowledge of the first century Jews would have known was preposterous!
3) The Gospel of Mary, popularized by Dan Brown’s page-turner (yes, I read it) The DaVinci Code. Scholars are virtually unanimous that it was written in the 2nd century so Mary is definitely NOT the author. By the way, it does NOT mention the now-popular idea that Jesus was married to Mary.
4) The “Secret” Gospel of Mark. Professor Morton Smith of Columbia University claimed he found this gospel in a monastery in the Judean wilderness in 1960. Today it cannot be found. Can you say, “Hoax?”
5) The Gospel of Judas. Claims Judas Iscariot was Jesus’ greatest disciple, who alone was able to understand Jesus’ most profound teaching, and that the two of them conspired to arrange for Jesus’ betrayal.
We could go on, and unfounded fictitious documents and ideas like these are bound to increase. None of them promote CONFIDENCE in Jesus Christ or the Bible. In order to combat this flow of error we need renewed CONFIDENCE in God and His promises.
So let’s look together at the Things God’s Children Are Confident About.
I. God’s children are confident they can overcome evil through love and faith.
John mentions love 40 times in his letter to the early Christ followers! That’s a substantial number, especially in just five chapters. We can’t follow Christ without love being preeminent. And one of the great things about living a life of love is that it gives us greater CONFIDENCE because we are living the way God created us to live.
Have you ever noticed that when there’s animosity in your heart and life – that that ain’t no fun? Have you ever noticed that when your heart is filled with love that life is just better? God intended for us all to love and be loved! God’s Word talks so much about love because God doesn’t want anyone to miss the fact that God loves them and God’s children love them also! Look at what John says.
1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God.
What do we have to do to become a child of God? Believe that Jesus is the Christ. Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Messiah – the One sent from God, the Anointed One, The Promised Savior. When we make a faith commitment to Jesus as our Savior; when we believe that God sent Him – which is something the false teachers in John’s today, and today, try to place into question – then we become a child of God!
As we read on, circle every usage of the word “love."
"And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. (Some people say, “I love God. I just don’t love the church.” The Bible says EVERYONE who loves the Father loves his children too.)
2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.
3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.
4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.
5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
Often when this passage is read verse 4 is considered by it self and that’s fine. It encompasses a great truth.
“For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.”
But the context of this verse gives greater insight to its meaning. Faith in who and faith in what? Faith in God and His love for us which prompted Him to send His Son Jesus as God in the flesh, the God-man, who died for us because He loves us!
John says our love for God, which automatically insinuates a life of obedience to His commandments, and our love for his children is a big key to our overcoming evil in the world.
One of the big motivations for love is obedience. Most folks think of love solely as an emotion. If we feel “loving” toward someone else then we act “loving.” But love, especially as its taught in the Bible, real love, mature love, is predominantly an action. You say, “C’mon Brian. All the sappy movies I’ve watched and all the romance stories I’ve heard – why love is an emotion." The Bible is not saying that it isn’t. The Bible is saying that it’s more! If you don’t believe me read verse two again.
"We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments."
It’s what that verse does NOT say that is revealing.
It doesn’t say, “we know we love God’s children if we feel really good inside about them.” Quite frankly you can be in a grumpy mood some days and not feel too hot about God’s children. Even though you may need to deal with your rotten attitude, you can still love – because it’s an action, not an emotion. God’s Word says, “We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.”
Here’s what John is getting at. We don’t overcome the evil in the world that tries to overcome our faith by just doing things when we feel like doing them. We overcome temptation, trials, testings, spiritual struggles…by expressing our faith in God to the point that we love others even if and when we don’t feel like it.
The early Gnostics of John’s day and those of later centuries taught that living by a moral code was unnecessary since, according to their twisted thinking, the physical body had no connection to spiritual things. Lying, stealing, cheating, drunkenness, adultery…doing anything that hurt God or hurt others…they were not taboo for the Gnostics. Their mantra in effect was, "Treat others any way you want to."
John was reiterating that God’s children do NOT live by that standard. Our standard is God and His love! We don’t overcome evil by acting like evil doesn’t exist. We don’t overcome the temptation to lose our temper by saying, “It doesn’t matter if I speak crossly to someone else.” We don’t excuse our sin in order to deal with it. If and when we do sin we confess it to God – and to the others we’ve offended if need be.
No, we can be CONFIDENT that evil can be overcome if we will practice God’s love by faith. By faith in Jesus as God’s Son we treat others as the special people they are even when we see their imperfections. That’s how God loves us. That’s how we are to love each other. That’s how we overcome.
So we can be confident that our struggles with evil – in ourselves and in the world around us – we’re confident that this struggle can be won by our faith and love. Secondly,
II. God’s children are confident they can trust God’s testimony about His Son.
Often those who are skeptical of Jesus attempt to trump up new evidence to contradict the biblical testimony about Him. So John rehearses the evidence about Jesus to show how totally worthy of our faith He is. Circle the words testimony and witness.
6 And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.
7 So we have these three witnesses—
8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree.
9 Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son.
10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.
When John wrote these words there were people still alive who knew these words were true because they had seen these things with their own eyes. Once again, that is something that the Gnostic gospels and other spurious and antagonistic accounts of the life of Jesus cannot say.
What testimony did John give that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God?
Verse 6 speaks of Christ’s baptism. What was significant about that? Look at one of the Gospel accounts of Christ’s baptims.
16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” Matthew 1:16-17 (NLT)
John was rehearsing the extraordinary supernatural events of Christ’s baptism as testimony that Christ was from God. The Holy Spirit descending like a dove represents the purity of Christ and, along with God’s voice from heaven, the seal of God’s approval.
And then John mentions the fact that Christ shed His blood for us on the cross. So we not only have the baptism of Jesus but the blood of Jesus. Why would John mention the blood Jesus shed on the cross as a testimony?
The false teachers of John’s day believed that a “a Divine Spirit” came upon Christ at His baptism and LEFT before Jesus died on the cross. They placed no value at all in Christ’s death. By mentioning Christ shedding His blood John is contradicting that messed up teaching about Jesus. When Christ shed His blood all heaven wept that the sinless Son of God had to pay such a great price for our sins.
"At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock." Matthew 27:45 (NLT)
When Jesus died the Bible also says, “At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart…” Matthew 27:51 (NLT)
God was making an emphatic statement about the death of His Son. The shedding of Christ’s blood was not an insignificant happenstance. It was central to the plan of God. Without Christ shedding His sinless blood our sins could not be forgiven.
We can be confident that God loves us, and that Jesus died for us by shedding His blood.
But there’s even one more witness, The Holy Spirit! The last part of verse 6 says, "And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony."
We weren’t there at Christ’s baptism or His death. But the Holy Spirit was there and He testifies to us of the validity of the Scripture. This is a more subjective experience but just as real nonetheless. How does it work?
"For the Holy Spirit speaks to us and tells our spirit that we are children of God." Romans 8:16 (NLV)
This is not a CONFIDENCE we work up in ourselves, but an inner CONFIDENCE that God gives us.
III. God’s children are confident they have eternal life since they believe in the Son of God.
The testimony of the Holy Spirit is not only inside the Christ follower but also revealed in the Word of God.
11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
I once read these verses to my illiterate grandfather who was raised in a religious tradition that taught that no one could know for sure that they were going to heaven when they died. When I read these verses to him from First John he said, “I didn’t know that was in the Bible.” I felt sad and angry that he had been misled.
Know this – this is God’s Word to you – If you believe in the name of the Son of God you can know that you have eternal life! If you have accepted the gift of God’s Son then you have the eternal life He brings with Him. Since it is a gift you can’t earn it. You just ask for it and its yours! And fourthly…
IV. God’s children are confident God gives them what they ask for if their motives are pleasing to Him.
This is one of many promises that God answers prayer found in the Bible.
14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.
15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
An English missionary doctor named Helen Roseveare, tells this story about an incident she experienced during her work in Zaire, Africa.
One night she had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all they could do the mother died, leaving them with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. They had no incubators or even electricity so they used a hot water bottle to keep babies warm during the cold, windy nights. When one of the nurses filled the hot water bottle it burst due to dry rot. And it was their only hot water bottle. They wrapped the baby in a blanket and slept with it by the fire.
The baby made it through the night, and in the morning Helen gathered the other children to pray as she did each day. She explained the situation about the little two-year-old girl, who was crying because her mother had died, and her infant sister, and how the baby would probably die during the next night without a hot water bottle.
During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual bluntness of children who don’t know any better. “Please, God,” she prayed, “Send us a water bottle. It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon. And while You’re at it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her.”
Helen was in a tight spot. She knew that God can do everything. But there are limits, aren’t there?
The only way God could answer that particular prayer would be by sending her a package from back home in England, and in the four years she’d been in Africa, she’d never received a package from home. Anyway, even if someone did send a package, who would put in a hot water bottle? They lived on the equator!
Later that afternoon, a car came by and left a large 22-pound box at Helen’s front door. When Helen got home she saw it and gathered the children around.
They opened the box, and Helen began pulling out brightly colored clothing for the children, as well as bandages for the leprosy patients. Then she put her hand in and pulled out a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle!
Helen began to cry. She hadn’t asked God to send it, because she didn’t really believe He could. But Ruth, a little 10-year-old girl, did believe. She was in the front row of the children, and rushed forward, crying out, “If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!” Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, Ruth pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. She had never doubted!
Looking up at Helen, she asked, “Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?”
That parcel had been on the way for five whole months! Packed up by Helen’s former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a doll for an African child — five months before — in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it “that afternoon.”
Here’s a word from scripture: In Isaiah 65, verse 24, God says, “Before they call, I will answer!”
Where do you need God’s confidence today?
If you’ve never made a faith commitment to Christ now is the time to call upon Him to be your personal Savior. Once you have the Son you have life!
If you’ve drifted from your commitment to Christ because you have lost confidence - renew that confidence in Christ today!
If you have needs don’t give up asking for them to be met.
