Our Confidence. A series on 1 John, part 9 (1 John 5:13-21)

 

Read 1 John 5:13-21

At the time John wrote this letter, Christianity was under attack. People were going through uncertainties and either leaving the church or trying to change the gospel. As we come to the conclusion of the letter, we can see that not only was it a response to Gnosticism, but it was also meant to reassure the reader of several things. By using the phrase "we know," John gave the reader several certainties for Christians to be confident in as he summarized and concluded his letter. Our first confidence, and concurrently the purpose of the letter, is found in verse 13. John wrote the letter that the reader might be certain of eternal life. His desire is that they might know that Jesus is the true Son of God, and knowing this, believe in the gospel promises and therefore have eternal life. He goes on to tell us of the confidence we have that our prayers are not only heard but will be answered. Do not make the mistake of thinking prayer is a way to control God or get anything you want. This is not the first time John has spoken about prayer; in John 14:12-14, he tells us what Jesus says about prayer. "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will even do greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My Name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My Name, and I will do it." 

One of the beautiful things about being a Christian is that we can talk to God. We can be certain He hears our prayers, but in both instances, the context is extremely important. In John 14, it is key to note that first, Jesus says, "anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing." Our text says that "if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." It is imperative to see that the things we ask must be in accordance with His Will. What does this mean? Well, it means, for instance, that we can be confident when we pray for God to work His Spirit in us because He has promised to do so! We can not make demands of God, but we can give everything to Him in prayer. We can ask that He makes us holy and pure and be confident that He will grant this. Prayer is not us forcing God to do our will, but rather, it is a way for us to ask that our will be aligned with His. By prayer, we are submitting ourselves to God's will. 

This connects to the next few verses in our chapter as John goes on to talk about intercession. When someone sins, our first response should be prayer. We, and the church, ought to pray for those who do not have our Christian certainties. 

This is where John points us to "the sin that leads to death." There's a lot of debate on what this is, but again, if we look at the context, we have our answer. Based on the rest of the letter we can infer that the sin that leads to death is an attitude and denial of Jesus Christ. Throughout the whole letter John has been refuting the Gnostics' beliefs, most importantly, their belief that Jesus was not fully God. If we look back at verse 12, John wrote that "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." The sin that leads to death is thus the sin that refuses eternal life, that is, Christ. We can be confident that if someone rejects Jesus as God, they are rejecting the way to forgiveness of their sins. If you reject the only way to forgiveness of sins, then your sin will lead to death. Without Christ, there is no life!

 This leads to our next "we know" statement; "we know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin." John reiterates that those who are born again, in Christ, will not habitually live in sin because Jesus, Son of God, keeps the believer safe. The evil one tries to gain a hold over us, but we can be confident that God has overcome sin, the devil, and the world. We can be certain of God's power and work in us. The believer is not immune to temptation, but our protector is stronger than the evil one. We are only able to keep God's commands because God keeps us safe. 

Our world is obsessed with identity and where it's found, but as Christians, we can be confident that our identity is found in the gospel. We are children of God! We live in a world that's staggering under the weight of temptation and in the devil's grasp, but we can be confident that, as Christians, we are under God. The world is one of self-gratification and slavery under the devil, and while we can identify with the need for salvation, we do not identify with the world's sinful desires. We can be confident in the knowledge that "The Son of God has come and has given us understanding." 

Our final confidence is found in the last verse. We know that the world is trying to push us away from God and towards idols. The world has many idols, and we must be wary of these and of the world's attitude towards sin. The world would have you celebrating sin! Anything that separates us from God or takes His place is an idol. We can be confident that Satan and the world will try anything to separate us from the love of God but we can also be certain that "The One who was born of God" will keep us safe.