Believing with Assurance
Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Mind you, he probably hadn’t imagined the industry that’s sprung up around tax avoidance these days. But he was certainly correct about death. You can’t live with it. You can’t live without it. Of course if you ever want to kill a conversation, just start talking about death. It’s inevitable, but none of us seems to want to face it. It’s almost as though we’re scared of it. For some there’s even a superstitious fear that if you talk about death someone might die. I was talking to someone about our funeral request forms last week and I was saying how hard it is to get people to fill them out. Why is that? Is that because people here don't want to think about death? I know one person whose daughter doesn’t want to talk about it. But why? Do they think that not thinking about it will put it off? Well, I’m afraid that’s a vain hope. None of us knows the day or the hour when God will call us to him.
For the people of the new Testament death was often in their thoughts. They were a persecuted Church for whom the next day, the next hour even, could signal arrest and possible death. So we find some 200 odd references to death or dying in the letters of the New Testament. But notice that death was never referred to as a thing to fear. Rather the message of the gospel was that the fear of death has been removed. In the place of death is eternal life. Far from fearing death, the Christian can see death as a necessary step that leads to new life, to release from all the ravages of this world.
So John writes to the Christians in the late first century, words that are equally applicable to us at the start of the 21st century. He says: “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.” You see, there’s no need to fear death if you believe in the name of the Son of God, because belief in Jesus’ name brings eternal life. Back in ch 4 he told us that there is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear, and it’s the same here. Believing in Jesus Christ isn’t just about knowledge and belief, you see, it’s about a relationship. It’s about a relationship of love. Believing in the name of Christ and loving Christ are synonymous. And that relationship of love drives out all fear of death and judgement, because we know that a relationship with Christ leads to forgiveness and eternal life. In John 17 Jesus says this: “this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) In other words, if you believe in the name of Jesus Christ, if you have a relationship with him, you’ve already begun to experience eternal life and you can be sure that that life will be yours after you die.
But John doesn’t leave us there. That could have been the end of his letter, but he has more to say about what this assurance of eternal life means for us in this life. He wants us to understand what it means to enjoy eternal life in the here and now. In fact there are 4 things that arise out of being in this new relationship with Jesus Christ. They are: a new assurance in prayer; a new antipathy towards sin; a new attitude to the world; and a new awareness of God.
A new Assurance in prayer;
If we’re in a relationship of love and trust with Jesus Christ the first difference it will make is that it will give us a new assurance in prayer. He says, “This is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” The word boldness, there, might better be translated freedom of speech. It indicates a confidence, an openness in God’s presence. He’s saying when you come to speak to God you can do so in the same sort of uninhibited, relaxed manner that you would if you were talking to your best friend or someone in your family.
There was a time when Christians in some circles were taught to be very formal in their approach to God. There are still some of them around. I remember one man who when he got up to pray made it sound like a speech to parliament, or an oration for the Queen. But John says here, you can speak openly to God, boldly, with confidence. You don’t need a special phrase book. There’s no style guide that you have to use. Just talk to him as you would to a friend, because you know that you’re his child if you believe in his only Son.
And having asked in faith we can have confidence that he hears us. And if we know that he hears us we can also have confidence that he’ll give us what we ask (v15). There’s an echo here of what Paul tells us in Rom 8 where he talks about all things working together for good to those who love God and then he adds: "He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?" (Rom 8:32 NRSV) We can have confidence when we ask God for something because we know that God has already given us that which is far more valuable than anything else we could ever ask for.
But don’t overlook the caveat in v14. What we ask must be according to his will. So how do we know what his will is? Well, we look at what he’s told us about his will. We read his word, where he’s revealed his will to us. Our prayers will never be more sure than when we pray prayers that are grounded in Scripture, when we pray, calling on God to fulfill his promises to us as we find them in the Bible. The secret to this I think, is to make sure that when I pray I’m submitting my will to God’s, not asking God to submit his will to mine. There’s an interesting moment in Joshua 5 just before the Battle of Jericho. Joshua is met by the angel of God, the commander of God’s army. When he sees him, Joshua asks ‘Are you on our side or our enemy’s’ The angel says: ‘Neither.’ He isn’t on Joshua’s side, he’s on God’s side. The message is fairly clear: Joshua had better make sure he’s on God’s side as well. Well, it’s the same with our prayers. We’d better make sure that it’s our wills that are being submitted to God’s and not the other way around. If that’s true then we can have complete confidence that our prayers will be answered.
John then turns to one example of a prayer that we can be confident is according to God’s will. He says, ‘If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one.’ Ezek 18:23 says: “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?” So when we see a brother or sister doing something that God doesn’t like we can have confidence in praying that they’d repent and turn back to God. He’s saying we have a responsibility towards each other as Christian brothers and sisters. In the context of a loving relationship, we are our brother’s or sister’s keeper. So we should be praying for one another that we’ll remain faithful to God.
Mind you he says, there will be some cases when you’ll be wasting your breath. There are some sins which are mortal, that is, which inevitably lead to death. This is one of those passages that have been much debated and much misunderstood. Just what does he mean by a mortal sin? Are these the seven deadly sins? Or is it something else? Some Christians get very worried that they might have committed an unforgivable sin without knowing it. So what does he mean? Well, as far as I can see from the context, the sort of thing he’s talking about must be to do with our response to Jesus Christ, and our attitude to sin. That is, the only sins which are unforgivable are a continued denial of Jesus Christ as the risen Son of God, and a refusal to admit and confess our sins to God. Calvin described it like this: ‘a resistance in one’s heart against the truth of God, even though one is touched with the glory of that truth and cannot plead ignorance. Therefore this sin is seen as a bitter and hardhearted resistance.’ This sort of sin is unforgiven and will remain unforgiven because it refuses to call on the gracious means of pardon that God has provided. Someone has likened it to the person who’s starved themselves to the point where the body rejects food even when they try to eat. So the person who repeatedly rejects Christ in the end becomes incapable of repentance.
So these words are a warning to us, never to stop turning back to God for forgiveness. A reminder to always remember that if we sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the perfect offering for our sins. But also to remember that all wrongdoing is sin. All wrongdoing is serious in God’s sight.
That leads us on to the next result of believing in Jesus Christ.
A new antipathy towards sin(v18)
Not only can we have confidence in approaching God, but we can also be confident that if we love God sin will be taken away from us. There is no meeting point between God and sin. So too, there’s no place in the believer’s life for sin. This is a double sided coin. On one side we find the believer’s response. That is, a desire to steer clear of sin, an antipathy towards it. On the other side we see God’s part in keeping us safe from it. He says those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God (that is, Jesus) protects them. So the result of being in Christ is that we begin to hate sin the way God does, but the means by which we change, by which we begin to stop sinning, is the work of Christ. It’s the work of his Holy Spirit within us that actually enables us to stop sinning. It’s Christ who keeps us safe from the attacks of the evil one. Jesus said, ‘I give my sheep eternal life and ... no-one can snatch them out of my hand..’
So part of Christ’s saving work is to change our minds so we no longer want to disobey God. In fact he changes us so we want to do his will. Here’s another prayer we can pray with confidence: that Christ would change us to be more like him.
Thirdly, our relationship with Christ leads to
A new attitude to the world (v19)
He says ‘We know that we are God's children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.’ For the Christian there’s a new understanding of where we belong. We don’t belong in this world, you see, because this world lies under the power of the evil one. You don’t have to look very far to see the truth of that statement do you? Whether it’s Afghanistan, or the Middle East, or Sudan, or even on our TV screens, it’s fairly obvious that this world still lies under Satan’s power. You may even find there are times when you feel uncomfortable being in this world. That shouldn’t surprise you because the truth is, we don’t belong here. Where do we belong? We belong in God’s Kingdom! Again, that’s why we shouldn’t be afraid of death. All death means for the Christian is an end to this uncomfortable existence in a world that’s under the power of Satan and entry into God’s Kingdom in all its fullness.
Finally, our relationship of faith in Jesus Christ leads to:
A new awareness of God (vs 20-21)
If the letter could have finished with the statement in v13, then here is an even greater summary of his letter, and indeed of the gospel: ‘we know 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, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.’ The basis of our faith is what Jesus Christ has done in history. ‘The Son of God has come’ The result of his coming is that he’s given us understanding, so we may know him who is true. That is, our minds have been changed so we can recognise Jesus for who he is and so that we can come into a living relationship with him. And our new state is described in that all-embracing phrase ‘in him.’ What Jesus has done in his coming to earth is not just to provide an atoning sacrifice for our sins, but he’s actually made it possible for us to be brought into the closest union with him - and through him with the one true God. Through our faith in Jesus Christ we’re brought into a lifelong, an eternal, relationship with the one true and living God. Here is the reality of eternal life. Eternal life isn’t just living forever. It’s living in Christ. In Christ who forms part of the Godhead, of the Trinity. It’s being in the closest possible relationship with the eternal and true God, with the living God, the one who is eternal life. That’s why he finishes with the warning to keep ourselves from idols. How could we follow idols when we’re in union with the true and living God?
Do you know that you have eternal life? Are you absolutely certain that you have nothing to fear from death? I hope you are. But if you’re not, then this is how you can be. It’s not hard. He says ‘We have this confidence in Christ, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.’ & ‘These things are written to those who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that they may know that they have eternal life.’ If you want to be certain that you have nothing to fear from death, then put your confidence in Jesus Christ. Accept his claim to be the only begotten Son of God. Admit your disobedience to God and ask him for forgiveness. Believe his promise that if you ask he will forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Then ask him to help you, to give you the strength to do God’s will day by day. If you’ve done those things then you can have confidence that God will keep his promise to you. You’ll begin to see the change in your life that’s a foretaste of the eternal life God promises to us. You need never fear death. Rather you can look forward to that day when all the trials of this world will be finished.