<\/p>\n
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>I write\u00a0these things to you who\u00a0believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.<\/span>\u00a014\u00a0<\/sup>And this is\u00a0the confidence that we have toward him, that\u00a0if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.<\/span>\u00a015\u00a0<\/sup>And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:13-15<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Introduction<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As we arrive here at verse 13, we arrive at what is really John\u2019s main thesis that he has been working toward this entire letter. John uses the same writing strategy in his gospel account, as he waits till near the end of the book, and says he wrote the book so \u201cthat you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.\u201d Now here in his epistle he is writing to us so that we may know that we have eternal life. Many commentators say that everything after 1 John 5:13 is John writing a postscript. In his postscript John is doing some summarizing and essentially saying \u201cthese are things we can know and act upon because of what has been laid down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
So today we have just two guiding thoughts that we see directing us in this passage: 1) Assurance of Eternal Life, and 2) Assurance in Prayer. By God\u2019s grace we will see the connection between the two.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Assurance of Eternal Life<\/b><\/p>\n
The Purpose of John\u2019s Writing<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As we have seen quite plainly here, John\u2019s purpose in writing these things is so that we may know that we have eternal life. As we have done throughout this letter, I want to remind you of the context in which John is writing. There were various forms of Gnosticism going around causing disruption in the churches and teaching that in order to have eternal life, you had to have this elite level of spiritual knowledge, and these simple Christians who did not attain to this elite status could not know if they had eternal life. That is the situation into which John writes this letter. He is writing to very simple and normal Christians, telling them that they absolutely can know that they have eternal life, and that is his whole purpose of writing to them. <\/span><\/p>\n
So to you today, various forms of Gnosticism may or may not be threatening you; but it may be that you feel like a lesser Christian because you look at other Christians and they seem to be doing such great and awesome things for God, and they seem to be so spiritual, and then you look at your own life, and it\u2019s all you can do just to make it through each day still believing the gospel. You look at your faith and it seems to be so small and wavering, and you think to yourself, “how can I truly know that I am saved with such a weak faith? How can such a small faith in such a lowly person like me, be real, saving faith, when I see such strong faith in others?” God has written to you, to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. You too can know that you have eternal life. Assurance of salvation does not belong only to pastors or those whom God seems to use mightily; but to everyone who believes in the name of the Son of God – normal, simple Christians. Now it is true that those who have a greater level of obedience and communion with God will have a greater level of assurance; but simple and normal Christians can have great levels of obedience and communion with God. In fact, the lowlier the Christian, often, the greater those things are. So John is writing to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.<\/span><\/p>\n
Before we move on from verse 13, when John says, \u201cI have written these things\u2026\u201d we should ask the question, \u201cWhat things?\u201d What is John referring to? Well there are two things that John has in mind. 1) As we have really already observed, he is referring to the letter as a whole, which would include the various tests of faith that we have seen (obedience, love, and doctrinal<\/span>), and 2) John is referring to the more immediate context of the witnesses in verse 6-12 that we saw last week. So the water, the blood, and the Spirit that are the testimonies of God that testify to Jesus being the Son of God, ought to assure us that we have eternal life, as we believe in the name of the Son of God. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Audience of John\u2019s Writing\/Recipients of Assurance<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I want to say very clearly what I have been baking into my language thus far. We\u2019ve seen the purpose of John\u2019s writing, we\u2019ve seen the things that he is referring to and the great reality that we can have assurance of eternal life. But we must ask, to whom is John writing? Who are the recipients of this assurance that John writes so confidently about? It\u2019s sitting there in plain sight in verse 13, \u201cI write these things TO YOU WHO BELIEVE in the name of the Son of God\u2026\u201d Assurance of eternal life belongs to those who believe in the name of the Son of God. You cannot know that you have eternal life based upon the fact that you at one time made a profession of faith; but rather, do you believe? This is not past tense, it is present tense, those who believe. Children, boys and girls, you cannot know that you have eternal life simply because you live in a Christian home and attend church. But do you actually believe for yourself in Jesus Christ? And children, if you do truly believe in Jesus Christ, and believe that he lived, died, and rose again to forgive you of your sins, then you too, can know for certain that you have eternal life. Assurance of salvation does not belong only to adult Christians. <\/span><\/p>\n
So what we see here so obviously on the other side of this is that those who do not believe in the name of the Son of God have no right to assurance of eternal life, let alone eternal life itself. So, lowly, struggling Christian, yes, assurance can be yours too; but if you are struggling in the sense that you don\u2019t believe in Jesus Christ, then the comfort of assurance is not yours to have. What is yours is the command to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!<\/span><\/p>\n
But for those who believe, what a great comfort we can have in knowing that we have eternal life. We do not live under the pope which kept people in continual doubt and uncertainty making them pay for indulgences. But we live under the grace of God that is a solid rock bed of assurance; that no matter what trials and difficulties may come to us, no matter what threats we may face, we may know that we have eternal life, which is a great source of strength for us to make it through the doubt and difficulties of this life. While there are many things we don\u2019t know, we can know the most important thing with certainty; which gets us through all the other things.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Assurance in Prayer<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John now goes on to talk about the confidence we have toward God that comes from the fact that we can know that we have eternal life. Not only can we have assurance of eternal life, but we can have assurance in prayer! Much like many Christians can go through times of doubt when it comes to the assurance of their salvation, prayer is also one of those areas where we can be tempted with doubt, to wonder whether God hears us or not; to wonder whether our prayers will be answered. And yet, John is saying here that just as we can have assurance of salvation, we can have confidence in our prayers! Prayer ought not to be a guessing game or a shot in the dark, just hoping they might get answered; but prayer ought to be a confident affair. We ought to approach prayer with certainty.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How can we have assurance in prayer?<\/em><\/p>\n
First, by having assurance of eternal life.\u00a0Assurance of eternal life leads to confidence in prayer. Knowing that we have eternal life leads to knowing God hears us, when we ask according to His will. As Calvin puts it, \u201cThe certainty of faith by no means generates indifference or sloth.\u201d Thus assurance of eternal life leads to confidence in prayer. Confidence in eternal life leads to confidence in prayer right now, in this life. Because the Christian currently possesses his future (eternal life), his current time is spent in prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Second, by praying according to His will. When we pray according to God’s will we ought to have great confidence. God’s will by which we are to pray is not in reference to His secretive will which we might think of as God’s plan for our lives. Rather, what is in view here, is God’s revealed will. In other words, when we pray according to how God has instructed us to pray in His Word, and according to the promises He has given us, we may have great confidence in prayer. John Calvin puts it this way,\u00a0\u201cFor though God has promised to do whatsoever his people may ask, yet he does not allow them an unbridled liberty to ask whatever may come to their minds; but he has at the same time prescribed to them a law according to which they are to pray. And doubtless nothing is better for us than this restriction; for if it was allowed to every one of us to ask what he pleased, and if God were to indulge us in our wishes, it would e to provide very badly for us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Often, we pray and ask according to our own will, and not God\u2019s. But our prayers, as all of life is, is primarily about God and his will, and that is for our good. In fact, it is best for us to ask according to God\u2019s will and not ours – He knows what\u2019s best for us, and we do not. This does not mean that we can\u2019t take all of our cares to him – we absolutely should, for He tells us to, but we turn them over to Him. As Charles Spurgeon once said, \u201cTurn every care into a prayer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So what happens when we pray according to His will? It is simple yet amazing – He hears us. Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it so well,\u00a0\u201cIt is God\u2019s love for us that He not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John expounds upon what he means that God hears us in verse 15. By this we see that\u00a0God hearing us does not mean that He hears the noise we make – because in that sense than obviously God hears everyone and everything. Instead this hearing means that His ears are open to us; it means that His heart is enlarged towards us.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The logic of this is very similar to the logic of Psalm 37:4. The idea there is that the more we delight ourselves in the Lord and delight in what He delights in, the more we our desires will be changed so that our desire will be to desire what he desires for us. This is the idea, that prayer changes us. The more we pray and the more we grow in the faith, the more our prayers and requests will be changed, to praying for God\u2019s will to be done, in all things, because we know that His will is best and that we have no idea what to will a-rightly, in regard to the future. I like what James Montgomery Boice says on this, \u201cAccording to these verses prayer is not so much getting God to pay attention to our requests as it is getting our requests in line with his perfect and desirable will for us. It is learning to think God\u2019s thoughts after him and to desire his desires.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
So when we understand prayer not so much to be about our wishes and plans that we take to God and ask Him to accomplish, then we can began to see prayer like George Mueller who said, \u201cPrayer is not overcoming God\u2019s reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.\u201d You see, prayer is not something we do to tire God out so that He will break down and finally give us what we ask; no, God wants us to pray so that through it, we might be changed, and He might work in our hearts and desires to pray for what He wills for us. Getting to that point where we can truly pray for God\u2019s will to be done, and pray according to the promises of God and the commands of God in scripture, and be resigned to that, is a great sign of faith, trust, and dependence upon the Lord, wanting nothing of our own desires, but of God\u2019s alone.<\/span><\/p>\n
Sometimes you will hear people criticize those who pray for something, and then in their prayers they say, \u201cif it be your will.\u201d There are those who criticize that type of prayer saying that it is a cop out prayer and lacks faith. I could not disagree more for that is the very thing that our Lord Jesus Christ prayed in the moment of greatest distress in his life! In fact, praying \u201cThy will be done\u201d is the greatest display of faith, because it shows that we trust God\u2019s will and plan even though we may not be able to know and see what it might be and that we do not trust ourselves or our wisdom. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If you turn to the following passages you will see where the Apostle John gets this teaching on prayer, from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: John 14:13-14; John 15:16; John 16:23-24.\u00a0What audacious claims these may seem to be to us! As such, we know that these great and wonderful promises have been used and abused by many \u201cname it and claim\u201d preachers, and what a great evil that is. Unfortunately, at least for me, but I think we can all agree here, because these teaching are so abused, we tend to just shy away from them. But we ought not to do so. These are great and wondrous promises that belong to the Reformed Christian, not the \u201cWord of Faith\u201d false teachers. Of course these great promises belong to every true child of God, Reformed or not, I just wanted to emphasize that these verses are not incompatible with Reformed doctrine, but part of it. You see, the confidence that comes from knowing that you have eternal life, which is critical to Reformed teaching, is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. Reformed Christians ought to be the most assured in their prayers; knowing that they pray for God\u2019s will to be done, and knowing that it will be done.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\u201c…calling on God is the chief trial (test) of our faith, and God is not rightly nor in faith called upon except we be fully persuaded that our prayers will not be in vain.\u201d – John Calvin<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
13\u00a0I write\u00a0these things to you who\u00a0believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.\u00a014\u00a0And this is\u00a0the confidence that we have toward him, that\u00a0if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.\u00a015\u00a0And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":3660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,27,30,32],"tags":[144,158,173,205,274,313,443,447,553,554,557,678,679,687,699,720,721,747,765,867,968,969,1014,1031,1056,1080,1105,1226,1361],"class_list":{"0":"post-3699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-gospel","9":"category-preaching","10":"category-theology","11":"tag-apostle","12":"tag-assurance","13":"tag-baptist","14":"tag-bible","15":"tag-christ","16":"tag-confidence","17":"tag-epistle","18":"tag-eternal","19":"tag-gnosticism","20":"tag-gnostics","21":"tag-god","22":"tag-jenkins","23":"tag-jesus","24":"tag-john","25":"tag-joshua","26":"tag-knowing","27":"tag-knowledge","28":"tag-life","29":"tag-lord","30":"tag-new","31":"tag-pray","32":"tag-prayer","33":"tag-rags","34":"tag-reformed","35":"tag-riches","36":"tag-salvation","37":"tag-scripture","38":"tag-testament","39":"tag-word","40":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/11\/prayingman300px.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3659,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/praying-great-prayers-with-great-confidence-because-we-have-great-assurance-from-our-great-god-who-has-given-us-a-great-gift-1-john-319-24\/","url_meta":{"origin":3699,"position":0},"title":"Praying Great Prayers, with Great Confidence, Because we have Great Assurance, from our Great God, Who has Given us a Great Gift: 1 John 3:19-24","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"November 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Prayer, we would all admit, is one of the most difficult disciplines to maintain in the Christian life. It is one of the most neglected means of grace, and methods of communion with God. And it is the most powerful aspect of the Christian life. 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Maybe some of you have favorite verses found in this book. 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The sons of Sceva were not. Are you known in hell? In other words \u2013 are you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Christ\"","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/tag\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/05\/light_in_dark.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/05\/light_in_dark.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/05\/light_in_dark.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/05\/light_in_dark.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/05\/light_in_dark.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/05\/light_in_dark.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3615,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/knowing-that-we-know-him-commentary-on-1-john-2v3-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":3699,"position":5},"title":"Knowing That We Know Him: Commentary on 1 John 2v3-6","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"September 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week we looked at the first 2 verses of chapter 2, and how Jesus Christ is our advocate before the Father when we sin, as He pleads our case on the basis of His righteousness and His propitiating death on the behalf of His people. That was really all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/09\/harmoney_with_nature_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/09\/harmoney_with_nature_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/09\/harmoney_with_nature_0.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/09\/harmoney_with_nature_0.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/685"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}