Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, we've arrived at the last two paragraphs here in
the Epistle of First John. And it has been an
incredible journey, has it not. There's so much here. And
one of the things that's been interesting preaching through First
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John and reading through First John over and over and.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Over again is how many of these passages or.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Verses in the Book of First John are so incredibly
familiar to us. We usually don't think about First John
as a favorite epistle or as one of those go
to epistles. But as we've looked through the Book of
First John time and time again, we've seen those verses
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that are so familiar to us and so comforting to us.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
And today is no exception to that. As we come to.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
First Chapter five, we're going to look at verses thirteen
through seventeen. John writes, I write these things to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life. And
this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that
if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
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And if we know that he hears us, and whatever
we ask, we know that we have the request that
we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother
committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask,
and God will give him life. To those who commit
sins that do not lead to death, there is sin
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that leads to death. I do not say that one
should pray for that all wrongdoing is sin, But there
is sin that does not lead to death. Now, besides
the last part of this paragraph being one of the
most difficult passages in all of the New Testament, or
all of the Bible for that matter, this first part
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of the passage is something that is very familiar to us.
This passage of scripture is about our assurance. It's about
our confidence, and it's about our assurance in three areas,
the assurance of our salvation, our assurance in prayer, and
our assurance in intercession. And so let's look in turn
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these three issues. All of these three issues are very
important doctrinal issues for us to address. There are also
very important doctrinal issues where error is not only possible,
it's prevalent. Error is not only possible in these issues,
but it's prevalent in these issues. The first is the
assurance of our salvation. Look what he says, I write
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these things to you who believe in the name of
the Son of God, that you may know the word
he uses there for no means a knowledge gained through experience,
that you may know that you have eternal life. I
write these things to you who believe on the name
of the Son of God, that you may know that
you have eternal life. Now, there are a couple of
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things that leap off the page here. The first is
this that there's a condition here that's not to be ignored.
There's a condition here that's not to be ignored. These
things to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God, who believe in the name of the
Son of God. Now, interestingly enough, I mean there are
a lot of people who believe in the name of Jesus.
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So does he just mean if you believe that Jesus
is the name of this guy that we talk about
in the Bible, then you have eternal life. We've talked
about this before. Muslims believe in Jesus. In fact, Muslims
believe more about Jesus than liberal Christians do. Liberal so
called Christians that the liberal Christians and academia, for example,
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deny things like the virgin birth on Shelby'spong. I've quoted
him before, but he says, and I quote, I do
not believe that Jesus was born by virgin birth, nor
do I believe that virgin births occur anywhere except in mythology. Now,
John Shelby's Pong was a pastor for thirty years, an
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episcopal bishop thirty years, and he doesn't believe in the
virgin birth. However, Qur'an clearly teaches that Jesus was born
of a virgin. So Muslims believe that Jesus was born
of a virgin. John Shelby Spong doesn't even believe that.
But both of them are in trouble. Why because John
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is not talking about merely believing that Jesus is his name.
How do we know that? Well, the rest of the epistle.
Look for example of chapter two and verse twenty two.
Who is the liar? But he who denies that Jesus
is the Christ. This is the antichrist, he who denies
the father and the son. No one who denies the
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son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father? Also,
Who's the antichrist? The one who denies that Jesus is
the Christ who denies that Jesus is the son of God.
In other words, in chapter two, John makes it clear
that if we don't believe that Jesus is God in
the flesh, then we don't really believe in Jesus at all.
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So it's very important that we don't rip one John
five point thirteen out of context. Anybody who believes that name.
As we've said before, our Mormon friends believe that name.
They believe he's the spirit brother of Lucifer. But they
believe that name. Okay, our Jehovah's witness friends, they believe
that name. They believe he's a god, lesser God than
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Jehovah God, but they believe that name nonetheless. So we
have to put this in its proper context. There's a
caveat here. Who has the assurance of their salvation. The
one who believes leaves appropriately the one who believes that
Jesus is who the Bible declares him to be. Remember
that this whole epistle is about confronting heresy. This entire
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epistle is about making believers aware of the fact that
there are those who claim to be Christian but whose
doctrine would not allow for such a distinction. So the
first thing we need to see is that caveat. And
here's what we also need to see. I write these
things to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God and Ian. Once we're clear there, once
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we're clear about to whom he speaks. Here's another thing
that we can't deny. That you may know that you have,
by the way, as a present possession, you have, as
a present possession, the opportunity for eternal life. It's not
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what the text says, potential eternal life. That's not what
the text says. That you may know that you have
as a present possession eternal life by the way, eternal life,
by definition, ends when.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Never.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
This verse teaches that you can't lose your salvation. This
verse teaches the eternal security of the believer who's a believer. Indeed,
this verse right here, all by itself, if we didn't
have anything else, this verse right here is enough to
argue for the perseverance of the elect This one verse
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right here. Why Because if you believe what you're supposed
to believe, if you've come to repentance and faith, the
text says you have as a present possession right here,
right now, eternal life. If you could lose it, it
wouldn't be eternal by definition. He would have to call
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it something else. If you could lose it, it's only
potentially eternal life. The text says, you have right here,
right now, eternal life. It's yours. It's yours, right here,
right now. And again, why do people have a problem
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with this doctrine. Here's why people have a problem with
this doctrine. We've talked about this before, but it bears
mentioning again. The reason people have a problem with this doctrine,
Number one is because they don't understand salvation. They don't
understand salvation, and so they make a two step error.
Here are the two steps in the error. Step number
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one in the error, salvation is asking Jesus into your heart.
That's nowhere in the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible is
anyone told.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
To ask Jesus into their heart.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Never ever, ever a salvation described like that, Never ever, ever, ever,
ever a salvation described as asking Jesus into your heart.
You can't get there from here. That's not biblical. Okay,
it's not or praying to receive Jesus not there. It's
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not there, all right, Hell is gonna be chock full
of people who pray to receive Jesus. It's gonna be
chock full of people who received, who asked Jesus in
there their heart. There are people by the millions, by
the millions, who've prayed the sinner's prayer who are gonna
bust hell wide open when they die. Well, but that's
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step one in the error. What have we seen throughout
First John? First John says basically, if you don't believe
the Gospel as it was proclaimed, you don't have eternal life.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I don't care what word you rep after the.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Preacher who then told you go write down this date
in your Bible and sign your name there, because this
day your name was sealed in the Lamb's Book of Life,
as though with European you wrote your own name and
in the Lamb's Book of life. Lord help us. So
that's error number one. We believe that salvation equals an
individual repeating the sinner's prayer, asking Jesus into their heart
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or receiving Jesus whatever. That's step number one. Here's step
number two. In the process, we rename the doctrine of
eternal security rather than the perseverance of the elect which
bears with it a whole lot of other theological presuppositions.
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We say once saved, always saved. That's the second step
in the error. First of all, we redefine what it
means to be saved. What it means to be saved
is to walk the isle and pray the prayer, and
then after that we say once saved, always saved. That's
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why every time somebody finds out that you believe in eternal.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Security, they ask, well, what.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
If somebody gets saved? Their definition is walk the is'll
pray the prayer, and then after that they go out
and they just shoot fifty seven hundred people. It's always
something ridiculous, you know, commit adultry ninety eight thousand times,
you know, and then you know all of these you know, well,
what if they do that? What if they do that?
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That's always the question, what if they do that? You
believe in this one saved, always saved stuff. Here's what
they're saying. And by the way, they're absolutely right. They're
just turned upside down theologically. They're absolutely right that that
doctrine of one saved, always saved. If we define salvation
as you ask Jesus into your heart, If we define
salvation as you walk the aisle, you pray the prayer,
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then they're absolutely right. It's rediculous. It's ridiculous. But here's
where they're making a theological error. A lot of people
who walk down an aisle and prayer prayer are not saved.
Parable of the soils four soils, three of them look
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real good. Only one of the three that look good
actually bore fruit, which means three quarters of those who
heard the Gospel according to Jesus parable nothing, and two
thirds of those who heard it and responded affirmatively.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
They heard it and they responded affirmatively, and it looked like, oh,
that's good stuff right there, gone? Two thirds of it gone.
Do we have the parable of the soils? But we
got the scariest verse in the whole Bible, scariest passage
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in the whole Bible Matthew seven, twenty one, twenty two. Man,
that's just scary stuff. Not everyone who says to me
Lord Lord, they're calling him lord. They're saying Jesus is
their lord. Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord
will enter into.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
The Kingdom of Heaven.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
But he who does the will of my Father is
in heaven. Many will say to me on that day,
Lord Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Its
preachers by the way, and your name cast out demons
and before many miracles. And I will say to them,
depart from me. I never knew you, you worker of iniquity.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
They pray to.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Prayer, they called him Lord, they even did churchy stuff,
and Jesus says they're lost. So the problem with this
whole idea of once saved always say there's twofold number one.
It's in precise theological language, because that's not the doctrine.
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The doctrine is the perseverance of the elect. That's different
than one saved, always saved. The perseverance of the elect
is basically this one of the ways you know that
somebody's really saved.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
They endure to the end. Amen. One saved, always saved.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
That's an entirely different that's an entirely different animal altogether.
Bible doesn't teach that unless you understand salvation from a
Biblical perspective. If a person's truly saved, they're going to
remain saved. Absolutely, Yes, Amen, hallelujah, Praise the Lord. If
a person is truly saved, they're going to remain saved
throughout all eternity. That's what this verse teaches right here.
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Not if a person walks an aisle and praise a prayer,
that's it.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
You and I both know. I mean, we could.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Stand up in here and testify from now until next
Sunday about the people we know personally who have prayed
the prayer. People that we know are as lost as
the day is long, and it's almost impossible to witness
to them because they walked an aisle one day and
they pray to prayer one day. There is nothing in them,
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around them or about them that says born again. But
when you go to talk to them about the Gospel,
they always tell you done that already. I asked Jesus
into my heart, especially around here. That's one of the
reasons I just I'm so relieved when I get a
chance to go preach outside the Bible belt. I am
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because around here everybody's a Christian, not everybody, everybody, beyond everybody, Okay,
everybody's a Christian. It's great every now and then to
go to the Pacific Northwest where people just go NA,
I'm not one of those. I'm a wicked I just
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look at them and start smiling. Man, I love you,
but I just said I'm a wicked I know, but
that means you don't believe you're a Christian. It's a
great place for us to start. We're back home in Texas.
I'm looking at people who lived the wicked lifestyle. But
I start talking to him about Jesus and they go,
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oh yeah, me and him, Well right here, man, like
my brother from another mother. You know, we just in Jesus.
In Jesus, we got an understanding. That's what you hear
run the South, and it's absolute wickedness. And by the way,
John has already addressed that. Look back again chapter two
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and verse nineteen. What does he say about individuals who
walked an aisle pray to prayer started real good, but
then they just went off the deep end? What does
John say about them? Does he say that they had
salvation and they lost it? Look at John chapter first,
John chapter two and verse nineteen. They went out from us,
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but they were not all of us. For if they
had been of us, they would have continued with us.
That's the doctrine of eternal security right there. That's the
doctrine of the perseverance of the elect John says, one
of the evidences that a person is a Christian is
they remain till the end.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
That's one of the evidences.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Not that it's a license to sin if you pray
a prayer at an altar, but that one of the
evidences that a person is truly converted is that they
remain till the end. That's the doctrine of eternal security,
not this one saved, always say live any kind of
way you want. They went out from us because they
were not all of us. If they had been able
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to continue with us, with us look at the next
part of the verse. But they went out that it
might become plain that they all are not of us.
Why'd they leave so that we would see that they
weren't really Christian. There's not a dilemma there, there's no dilemma.
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So these people who argue for you know, they make
that two step error era number one, how we define Christianity,
Era number two, misstating the doctrine. You know, yeah, y'all
believe in that one saved, always save stuff like a
person can go live any kind of way they want
to live, you know. And this is some people when
they find out you believe in eternal security, that's where
they go. That's where they go. And it all starts
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with that two step error. That's not what John is
speaking of in One John, chapter five and verse thirteen.
A person is truly converted, a person is truly born again.
They have eternal life as a present possession. And one
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of the evidences of that, and we already looked at
the evidence that they will bear fruit. We already talked
about that. But one of the other evidences of that
is they will endure. They will endure. It's going to happen.
They will endure. When it's all said and done, be
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there in the end. Does this doctrine teach that they
won't fall? Help you if you believe that. That's not
what this doctrine teaches. This doctrine just teaches that they'll
endure to the end, they'll get up, they'll come to repentance.
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In fact, they're His. So it may even be worse
for them than for others. Why he says in Revelation
three nineteen, those whom I love I reprove and discipline. Therefore,
be jealous and re In other words, Jesus says, if
you're mind, I'll take you to the woodshed.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Amen. And some of you know what I'm talking.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
About, because you know other people who've gone through that,
you see, and you could just come over here and
testify about those other people that you know who went
through a time where they weren't walking like they were
supposed to be walking, and thought they were just gonna
get away with it, and God just beat them like
a tied up goat and brought them back home, a
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little bloody and bruised, but back home. And so the
first assurance that we have as he closes this letter
that's just letters about by the way, a lot of
people look at First John and think, man, First John's
about making us doubt our salvation. And remember when we
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start this, I told you that there were going to
be weeks for each one of us in this room
where we'd sit there and go, oh, I'm not saved.
There's just no way in the world. Man, I'm just oh, well,
there's me right there. I'm going I'm out. First John's
not about making us doubt our salvation. If anything, is
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we've gone through this entire letter, what it does for
those who belong to him, is it actually settles us
and encourages us.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Amen, where we go.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You know, I may do ABC from time to time,
but that's not my walk, that's not my life, that's
not my character, and that's why when I do it,
it just eats me up. He wrote this not so
that believers would doubt their salvation. He wrote this so
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when people came from the outside and tried to redefine
what it meant to be a believer, when people came
from the outside and tried to make believers doubt that
they had what they had, that these individuals would know
that they have eternal life. I don't need what you're selling,
because it doesn't get any better than eternal Amen. I
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don't need what you're selling. I got it all God,
eternal life, I got Jesus. That's all I need. Everything
that I need is found in Him. I am lacking nothing, nothing.
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So we can have confidence, we can know that we're His,
We can know that we have eternal life as a
present possession. Does that mean we can have arrogance. No,
not arrogance. In fact, the arrogance would come from that
other two step false definition. You know, I got insurance.
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Now I can do whatever I want. That's the arrogance. No,
this brings us to humility, This brings us to This
keeps us on our face before Almighty God. This keeps
us examining our belief. Do I believe? Am I believing?
And by the way, that's what he says here, those
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of you who are believing on the name of the
Son of God, Am I believing? By the way, let
me just say a word here, just about that verb tense,
because some of us just need to be freed up.
There are some of you in this room and you
doubt your salvation because of this same deal over here,
over here, people define being saved as you know, you
walk the aisle, you prayed the prayer, and so it's
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you know, this kind of vision of a moment in
time where they point to and say, on this day
and that there are some people because of the lives
that we led before we came to faith in Christ,
we had that. I'm one of those individuals. Didn't grew
up in the church. I didn't grow up around Christians.
I didn't grow up around Christianity, never heard of the Gospel.
To my freshman year in college, raised by a single
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teenage Buddhist mother, it was radical and obvious when I
came to faith in Jesus Christ, from darkness to light,
the darker the darkness the bright of the light.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
And some people look at that and they go, well,
I don't have that, I don't have that. Why don't
I have that? Am I really saved? Was I really saved?
Especially individuals who grew up in church. You grew up
in church, you grew up around Christians, you were brought
up in the Word.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And as a result of that. And my prayer is
that this.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Is every one of our children's experience, that they are
so immersed and so bathed in the Word that one
day they just realized that they are believing.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Not that it it was radical darkness and then they
come to light, but that one day they just realized
that they're believing. Or some go through this. You have
this experience early on. You know, you're four or five
years old, Where's where's Jesus? See he in my heart?
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You four or five years old, they baptized you before
you could reach the bottom of the pool. And then
several years later you realize you had no idea what
you were doing, no understanding of any of that, and
you're living like an unbeliever. It was two problems. Problem
number one, what do you do? This is the classic
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fifteen sixteen, seventeen year old who grew up, you know,
in church and had that early experience. You know, that's
the first question. What do you do? Do I need
to get saved again? Well? No, if you were saved,
there is no getting saved again. Well do I need
to really get saved this time? Was my baptism fraudulent?
Was it appropriate?
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Was it? You know?
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Then we go through that whole difficulty, And if we
don't handle that appropriately, then here's what ends up happening.
The next time you find yourself in a place where
Satan tempts you with despair, you ask, what was the
second time real? First time was it? And I went
through the whole thing again, So maybe the second time
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I went through it? Maybe that wasn't real either, And
the first time wasn't real, and the second time wasn't really.
How will I ever know that the third time is real?
If I decide to do that again. CAUs, just bring
some comfort to us.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
All.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I write these things to those of you who are
believing the name of the Son of God. You may
not be able to settle the question as to when
you were saved. That's not as important as the question
of whether you're saved. Are you believing? You may not
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be able to work out though?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Was it then? Was it later? Was it now?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
You may not be able to work that out. And
you can beat yourself up over that if you want to.
I mean, if you just feel like you need to
do that, you know, I mean, you just go ahead.
You can do that if you feel like that's what
you need to do and that's the way you need
to spend your time. But I would like to suggest
that there might be a better way, and that better
way might be Are you.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Believing right now?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Well, I was wrong on Jesus, and I had all
these false doctrines and I was all of this and
all of that. Okay, fine, Repentance and faith that's all
we got. How do you come to Christ? Repentance and faith? Well,
I don't know if back then, if I was really okay, fine,
what do you got right now?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Repentance and faith? Are you believing?
Speaker 1 (27:55):
That's who has assurance, the one who's believing, the one
who's trusts, the one who's walking, the one who's following
Are you believing? Are you right now living the life
of repentance and faith? That's the question you ask yourself.
That's when we have assurance. Not only do we have
that assurance in our salvation, but in prayer as well.
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Look at verse fourteen. And this 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, and whatever we ask, we know
that we have the request that we have asked of him.
Now here's where we make another series of doctrinal errors. Okay,
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First of all, what does he mean here by confidence?
This is the confidence? Is that confidence our attitude? Does
it have to do with something else? He uses that
word confidence? The Greek word is translated confidence. He uses
several times here in the book of First John. I
want us to look at those places where we use
it uses it. First of all, look at John chapter
two and verse twenty eight. Now, little children abide in him,
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so that when he appears, we may have confidence and
not shrink from him in shame at his coming. So
that would be the opposite of shrinking from him in shame.
Now look at chapter three and verse twenty one. Beloved,
if your heart does not, if our heart does not
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condemn us, we have confidence before God. And when whatever
we ask, we receive from him because we keep his
commandments and do what pleases him. Then he uses it
again in chapter four and verse seventeen. By this is
love perfected with us. So we have confidence for the
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day of judgment, because as he is, so also are
we in this world. But the word is used elsewhere
in a different way. Look at the way John uses
it here and a few other passages, for example, in
the Gospel of John John chapter seven. If you want
to get to the Gospel of John John chapter seven,
is a few from chapter seven here in chapter ten,
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chapter eleven, chapter sixteen. Well, just look at a few
of these to give you an idea of this this
word group, this Greek word group coming from this particular
route John chapter seven and verse four. And it's parisa
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for no one works in secret, if he seeks to
be known openly. That's the Greek word to be known openly.
Look at John seven thirteen. Yet for fear of the Jews,
no one spoke openly of him. That's the same word
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speaking openly. Look at ten and verse twenty four. So
the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how
long will you keep us in suspense? If you are
the Christ, tell us plainly, same Greek word, same Greek root,
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tell us plainly Now Chapter eleven, verse fifty four. Jesus
therefore no longer walked openly among us, walked openly among us.
The word that's used here is not about just having
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an attitude of confidence. The word used here for being
confident is about us speaking openly. In fact, one of
the translations of this word is freedom of speech.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Freedom. We have freedom of speech.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
So, in other words, this is the freedom that we
have to speak to him openly. This is the freedom
that we have to speak. Why do we have freedom
to speak to God openly? Why can we bring anything
to God in prayer and speak openly to God about
all these things? Here's the freedom that we have back
in our passage that if we ask anything according to
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his will, he hears us. If we ask anything according
to his will, he hears us. Let's just be clear
on something. Our assurance in prayer is not based in formulas.
It's not based in tricks. There's one school of thought,
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and it's a heretical school of thought, and it basically
goes like this, faith is a force. Words are the
containers of that force. Therefore, with our words we can
speak things into reality if we have the proper faith.
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That's the idea, So I become sovereign, not God. And
those who believe this will often take it to the
next level and say that when we pray, we shouldn't
say things like if it's your will, because that's doubt.
(33:32):
We don't want doubt to enter in. Listen to what
Fred Price has said. Now this is a shocker, but
God has to be given permission to work in this
earth realm on behalf of man. Yes, you are in control.
So if man has control, who no longer has it God?
(33:53):
When God gave Adam dominion, that God no longer had dominion.
So God cannot do anything in this earth unless we
let him. And the way we let him or give
him permission is through prayer. Christ goes on to say this,
(34:15):
if you have to say if it be thy will
or thy will be done, then you're calling God a fool.
How about his friend Benny Hen never ever ever go
to the Lord and say, if it be thy will,
don't allow such faith destroying words to be spoken from
(34:38):
your mouth. There are a couple of problems with this number.
One the verse at hand. The verse at hand says,
this is the confidence that we have toward him, that
if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
Here's the second problem. When Jesus is in the garden
(34:59):
of Go and he's praying. First of all, when he
teaches us to pray, he teaches us to pray Thy
Kingdom come, Thy will be done. So Jesus teaches us
how to pray, and he teaches us to pray that
God's will be done. Not only does he teach us that,
but he models it for us in the garden of gsemone,
(35:21):
if there's any other way, let this bitter cup pass
from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
So the Kenneth Hagen's of the world, the kend of
Copelands of the world, the many Hens of the world,
the fred Prices of the world, the Maryland Hickeys of
(35:42):
the world, and the list goes on and on and
on and on. The whole word faith movement has basically
twisted scripture up in a knot. What does the Bible
say about this. Listen to this. You have to turn
to these or several of them in a lot of
different places. Matthew chapter six, verse nine. Pray, then, like this,
(36:04):
our father arred in heaven. How will be thy name,
your kingdom?
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Come?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Your will be done enough as it is in Heaven
Acts chapter eighteen, verse twenty one. But on taking leave
of them, he said, I will return to you if
God wills, First Corinthians, chapter four and verse nineteen. But
I will come to you soon if the Lord wills,
and will find out and will find out not the
(36:27):
talk of these arrogant people, but their power one Corinthians
sixteen and seven. For I do not want to see
you now, just in passing. I hope to spend some
time with you if the Lord permits. Hebrews chapter six
and verse three. And this we will do if God permits.
(36:48):
And of course, James four fifteen, don't go around talking
about what you're gonna do, but instead you ought to say,
if the Lord wills, we will live and do this
or that. First Peter three seventeen. For it is better
to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will,
than for doing evil. First Peter four nineteen. Therefore, let
(37:09):
those who suffer according to God's will and trust their
souls to a faithful creator while doing good. It's his will.
It's his will. You know if often have people come
to me and they'll say to me things like, you know,
(37:30):
I notice it. Sometimes you don't pray in Jesus's name,
but I always pray in Jesus name. Well, No, sometimes
you don't. You know, when you in your prayer you
don't say in Jesus name.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Amen. Well.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Why why is it that sometimes when you in your
prayer you don't say in Jesus name amen.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Well? For several reasons.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Number one, because in Jesus's name is not a stamp
that you put at the end of prayers. You know,
if we ask anything in his name, then we have
what we ask. That doesn't mean that you put the
phrase in Jesus' name on the end of your prayer.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
How do I know this?
Speaker 1 (38:01):
There's not one prayer in the New Testament that ends
with the phrase in Jesus' name. Now one out of
all the prayers recorded in the New Testament, not one
of them has at the end of it in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Not one.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Here's the other thing, what does it mean to pray
in Jesus' name? Was Jesus actually trying to say to us,
If you say a prayer and at the end of
the prayer you put this proper stamp, because you can't
be delivered if you don't put the right stamp, and
that stamp is the phrase in Jesus's name, then whatever
you've just asked for, if you put that stamp on
the end of it, then you're gonna get it. Well,
(38:46):
if Jesus meant that, then here's what I could do.
I can say, Jesus, stop being God in Jesus's name.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
I put the phrase on the end. Am I going
to get it? No? Why?
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Because it violates his will, it violates his character or
his nature.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Means the same thing that it means to be an
ambassador in someone's name. If I'm an ambassador, you know,
the president says, Boddy, I want you to be the
ambassador to.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Whatever. Okay, fine, what does that mean? That means?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
As the ambassador, I go to that foreign land, and
I represent the president of this country, and I speak
things in his name which means what according to his will,
according to his authority, and according to his nature. So
(39:58):
when I pray in Jesus name, That's why a lot
of times, at the end of my prayer I say,
we asked this because we believe that it's in accordance
with your will and your nature and your authority. If
it's outside of his will, is that what we're gonna get? Nope,
if it's outside of his nature. Can I ask God
for something outside of the nature of God.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
And expect that.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
No, if it's outside of his authority, it's about my
authority and not God's.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Authority, I'm I gonna get that. Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Now does that mean that when we say our prayers
we shouldn't say at the end in Jesus Nay, that's
not what I'm saying. Sometimes I say that, but at
other times I don't. To remind myself here, I want
to remind myself that prayer is not a formula to
get what I want. Prayer is an act of obedience
to Almighty God. Well, then some ask this, Well, what
(40:54):
I mean, If that's the case, then why pray? If
God's just gonna do what's in accordance with his will?
And his nature and authority. Then why pray?
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Well? At least a couple of reasons. Number one, because
he told us to Amen.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Here's the other. I don't pray to bend God's will
to me. I pray to bend me to God's will.
Did you catch that? Unfortunately most of us think prayer
is about bending God's will to us. Think of yourself
(41:31):
as a ship and God as the land there were
You're gonna war your ship. Now if I tie my
ship to that port and pull on the rope, is
the port gonna come to my ship? Or is my
ship gonna come to the port? God's the port, not
(41:52):
the ship. When we pray, we are bringing ourselves in
line with the will of God, not God in line
with our will. And by the way, who among us
would really want God's will to be bent toward us.
I don't have all the facts, people, Amen, I don't
(42:15):
see the whole field.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
God does. God sees it all.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
So the last thing I want is for God to
see it all and to know everything down there that
would be in accordance with him gaining maximum glory, and
then have me request something that would bring me some
glory and compromise some of his glory. But because I
said it with the right formula, he compromises his own
glory in favor of mine. You can have that all day,
(42:47):
every day, and twice on Sunday. That's not biblical prayer.
That's not biblical prayer. Well, is it meaningless? No, it's
a means that God employs. Look at here in the
last part of this text. We also have confidence and intercession.
(43:10):
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading
to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life.
To those who commit sins that do not lead to death,
there is sin that leads to death. I do not
say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin,
but there is sin that does not lead to death.
There are a couple of questions here. First of all,
before we ask those questions, here's what we know. Here's
(43:31):
what we know. We know that God is saying here
that our prayer on behalf of our brethren is a
means that God honors and uses.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
That's good news. Amen.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Our prayer on behalf of our brethren is a means
that God uses. So it's meaningful for us to do that,
just empty for us to do that. Let's know what
Calvin says about this. The apostle extends still further the
benefits of this faith which he has mentioned, so that
(44:08):
our prayers may also avail for our brethren. It is
a great thing that as soon as we are oppressed,
God kindly invites us to himself and is ready to
give us help. But that he hears us asking for
others is no small confirmation to our faith in order
that we may be fully assured that we shall never
meet with a repulse in our own case. Amn Calvin says,
(44:35):
this is just good news. God hears me when I
pray on behalf of the brethren. God will use my
prayer as a means on behalf of the brethren. How
much more will he use it on my own behalf?
(44:55):
God will use it so just like if my brother
is in so God will use a direct rebuke or confrontation.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Here's what's just been said in this text. God will
use that. And we understand that, we understand God using
that means of.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
Instruction and correction and confrontation or encouragement or whatever. But
what this text teaches is that my prayer on behalf
of the brethren is as much a means to be
used by God as my words. Two, my brethren, just
(45:34):
try to wrap your mind around that one for a minute.
That'll lead us to more prayer, not less.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
But then there's this statement here about a sin not
leading to death. Let's finish up here, make a clarification
or two and wrap this all up together. There are
three ways that he uses death. Number one, we can
talk about physical death. A person's body dies physically, and
some argue here that that's what this means. I don't agree.
(46:05):
For example, Charles Ryer says believers can sin to the
point of physical death, to the point where physical death
results as a judgment of God. The Greek reads sin
not a sin in verse sixteen and seventeen, implying not
a single act, but acts that have the character of
sin leading to death. So Rary argues that he's talking
about physical death here. I disagree with that position. I understand,
(46:27):
but I disagree with that position for a number of reasons,
not least of which is this, how do we know
which sin is going to lead to physical death? And
what he's talking about here? He assumes that his readers understand,
how do we know if it's a sin? That leads
to the physical death. Now we know that sin lead to
physical death. Acts Chapter five and An II sins or fire,
(46:49):
God killed them in church?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
No less amen doesn't really happen a lot though, But
it happened. It happened.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
But I mean, why do we know? Do we have
this category? Has this category been given to us? We
also know, for example, in One Corinthians, chapter eleven, Paul
talks about the Lord's table and about judging ourselves rightly.
Some of you haven't, and that's why some of you
are sick and some of you have died.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
So again, we know.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
There's a connection net a physical death, but that's problematic. Secondly,
there's spiritual death, and thirdly there's the second death. Let
me say that I believe when he's talking about the
sin not leading to death, that he's talking about the latter.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
He's talking about the latter, not physical death.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
No, No, he's talking about a sin that leads us
to the death that separates us from God.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Why do I believe that one? Well, there's a couple
of reasons.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Number one, he says that for that one, he wouldn't
advise us to pray. Lo get what he says, I
do not say that one should pray for that. At
the end of verse sixteen, there's a sin that leads
to death. I do not say that one should pray
for that. In other words, there's a brother who is
committing a sin that leads to the kind of death
that he's talking about, and he says, for that one,
(48:28):
you shouldn't pray.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
Well, why not? Here's why.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
What does Jesus tell us about this sin that leads
to that kind of death? Everything else will be forgiven.
There's one that won't blash me against the Holy Spirit,
which we know through our treatment of that text earlier,
is a rejection of the spirit of God. It's a
rejection of the spirit of God. That's it. That's the
(49:00):
one that there's no pardon for.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
It's done.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
You've rejected the only means of salvation. It's over. It's done.
So I am I going to pray this God. This
person has rejected your spirit. They have completely rejected the
(49:24):
salvation that you've offered. But would you please save them
anyway that would not be in accordance.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
With His will, his nature, or his authority.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
Now I may pray that they wouldn't do that, but
I'm not going to pray that God would somehow change
the rules for this individual. When I see my brother
in sin, I pray for him all the way. This
(50:15):
is why we're at the back. Listen to this James
five thirteen to fifteen. Is anyone among you suffering, let
him pray? Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise? Is
anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders
of the church and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil and the name of the Lord. And
the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick,
(50:37):
and the Lord will raise him up, And if he
has committed sins, he will be forgiven. They connect sin
and sickness there, and again we know from First Corinthians
chapter eleven if there's that connection between sin and sickness.
(50:57):
So when he's talking about this particular prayer here, but
what he's talking about is not you know, I have
an ache, would you pray for me? That's not while
we're at the back. We're at the back because sometimes
you're sick because of sin, and you need to confess
and repent and be prayed for dealing with something that
(51:20):
you think might be connected to sin. That's when you
call for the elders. And God says that prayers effectual.
(51:47):
Why because obviously he wills it, So if he didn't,
it wouldn't be. And so when he talks about this, God,
would you heal this or that, remove this or that,
(52:12):
He makes it very clear, and we're not talking about
that sin that leads to death, that rejection of God. See,
if you're rejecting God, what you desperately need is to
come to that place of repentance and faith. So where
(52:40):
do we have assurance. We have assurance first and foremost
of eternal life for those of us who come to
that place of repentance and faith and believe the Gospel as.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
It's been proclaimed and preserved.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Secondly, we have assurance in prayer for those of us
who ask according to the will and the nature and
the authority of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ,
the author and perfector of our faith. Finally, we have
assurance in the intercession that God, in his wisdom, has
(53:18):
chosen to use the means of brothers praying for one
another when they find themselves having fallen into sin. And
all of these things we have assurance not because of ourselves.
But because of Christ, who purchased our pardon on Calvary's tree,
(53:44):
That's where our assurance lies. So I'm not assured of
my salvation because of me. I'm not assured in my prayer.
Because of me, I have more faith than everybody else.
I know how to tie God up in knots and
force him to do what I want him to do,
(54:04):
better than everybody. Yet, no, no, no, that's not why. That's
not why. It's because of Christ. And finally, I have
assurance and intercession because the Lord has told us that
when we pray for one another, that prayer will avail,
(54:26):
that that prayer is meaningful, that that prayer is what
He desires from us and for us as a means
that He has chosen to employ. So what do we
do with this? Let's have confidence that we belong to him.
(54:48):
For those of us who come to repentance and faith.
Let's have confidence as we pray, making sure that we're
praying in accordance with the will and the nature and
the authority of Christ, which means that the scriptures are
to guide our prayer and not just our own selfish desires.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (55:08):
And finally, let's have confidence as we intercede for one another,
because God would have us do that, and God will
use that. So let's take it seriously. When that prayergram
comes across our email, we put it wherever we put it.
(55:33):
Let's take seriously our opportunity and our privilege to intercede
for one another, trusting that God will honor that, trusting
that God will use that not because of who we are,
but because of the finished work.
Speaker 2 (55:52):
Of Jesus Christ on the cross. That's why, no other reason,
let's pray
Well, we've arrived at the last two paragraphs here in
the Epistle of First John. And it has been an
incredible journey, has it not. There's so much here. And
one of the things that's been interesting preaching through First
(00:23):
John and reading through First John over and over and.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Over again is how many of these passages or.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Verses in the Book of First John are so incredibly
familiar to us. We usually don't think about First John
as a favorite epistle or as one of those go
to epistles. But as we've looked through the Book of
First John time and time again, we've seen those verses
(00:52):
that are so familiar to us and so comforting to us.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
And today is no exception to that. As we come to.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
First Chapter five, we're going to look at verses thirteen
through seventeen. John writes, I write these things to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life. And
this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that
if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
(01:22):
And if we know that he hears us, and whatever
we ask, we know that we have the request that
we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother
committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask,
and God will give him life. To those who commit
sins that do not lead to death, there is sin
(01:44):
that leads to death. I do not say that one
should pray for that all wrongdoing is sin, But there
is sin that does not lead to death. Now, besides
the last part of this paragraph being one of the
most difficult passages in all of the New Testament, or
all of the Bible for that matter, this first part
(02:06):
of the passage is something that is very familiar to us.
This passage of scripture is about our assurance. It's about
our confidence, and it's about our assurance in three areas,
the assurance of our salvation, our assurance in prayer, and
our assurance in intercession. And so let's look in turn
(02:27):
these three issues. All of these three issues are very
important doctrinal issues for us to address. There are also
very important doctrinal issues where error is not only possible,
it's prevalent. Error is not only possible in these issues,
but it's prevalent in these issues. The first is the
assurance of our salvation. Look what he says, I write
(02:49):
these things to you who believe in the name of
the Son of God, that you may know the word
he uses there for no means a knowledge gained through experience,
that you may know that you have eternal life. I
write these things to you who believe on the name
of the Son of God, that you may know that
you have eternal life. Now, there are a couple of
(03:11):
things that leap off the page here. The first is
this that there's a condition here that's not to be ignored.
There's a condition here that's not to be ignored. These
things to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God, who believe in the name of the
Son of God. Now, interestingly enough, I mean there are
a lot of people who believe in the name of Jesus.
(03:34):
So does he just mean if you believe that Jesus
is the name of this guy that we talk about
in the Bible, then you have eternal life. We've talked
about this before. Muslims believe in Jesus. In fact, Muslims
believe more about Jesus than liberal Christians do. Liberal so
called Christians that the liberal Christians and academia, for example,
(03:57):
deny things like the virgin birth on Shelby'spong. I've quoted
him before, but he says, and I quote, I do
not believe that Jesus was born by virgin birth, nor
do I believe that virgin births occur anywhere except in mythology. Now,
John Shelby's Pong was a pastor for thirty years, an
(04:18):
episcopal bishop thirty years, and he doesn't believe in the
virgin birth. However, Qur'an clearly teaches that Jesus was born
of a virgin. So Muslims believe that Jesus was born
of a virgin. John Shelby Spong doesn't even believe that.
But both of them are in trouble. Why because John
(04:40):
is not talking about merely believing that Jesus is his name.
How do we know that? Well, the rest of the epistle.
Look for example of chapter two and verse twenty two.
Who is the liar? But he who denies that Jesus
is the Christ. This is the antichrist, he who denies
the father and the son. No one who denies the
(05:03):
son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father? Also,
Who's the antichrist? The one who denies that Jesus is
the Christ who denies that Jesus is the son of God.
In other words, in chapter two, John makes it clear
that if we don't believe that Jesus is God in
the flesh, then we don't really believe in Jesus at all.
(05:26):
So it's very important that we don't rip one John
five point thirteen out of context. Anybody who believes that name.
As we've said before, our Mormon friends believe that name.
They believe he's the spirit brother of Lucifer. But they
believe that name. Okay, our Jehovah's witness friends, they believe
that name. They believe he's a god, lesser God than
(05:46):
Jehovah God, but they believe that name nonetheless. So we
have to put this in its proper context. There's a
caveat here. Who has the assurance of their salvation. The
one who believes leaves appropriately the one who believes that
Jesus is who the Bible declares him to be. Remember
that this whole epistle is about confronting heresy. This entire
(06:11):
epistle is about making believers aware of the fact that
there are those who claim to be Christian but whose
doctrine would not allow for such a distinction. So the
first thing we need to see is that caveat. And
here's what we also need to see. I write these
things to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God and Ian. Once we're clear there, once
(06:32):
we're clear about to whom he speaks. Here's another thing
that we can't deny. That you may know that you have,
by the way, as a present possession, you have, as
a present possession, the opportunity for eternal life. It's not
(06:55):
what the text says, potential eternal life. That's not what
the text says. That you may know that you have
as a present possession eternal life by the way, eternal life,
by definition, ends when.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Never.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
This verse teaches that you can't lose your salvation. This
verse teaches the eternal security of the believer who's a believer. Indeed,
this verse right here, all by itself, if we didn't
have anything else, this verse right here is enough to
argue for the perseverance of the elect This one verse
(07:37):
right here. Why Because if you believe what you're supposed
to believe, if you've come to repentance and faith, the
text says you have as a present possession right here,
right now, eternal life. If you could lose it, it
wouldn't be eternal by definition. He would have to call
(07:59):
it something else. If you could lose it, it's only
potentially eternal life. The text says, you have right here,
right now, eternal life. It's yours. It's yours, right here,
right now. And again, why do people have a problem
(08:20):
with this doctrine. Here's why people have a problem with
this doctrine. We've talked about this before, but it bears
mentioning again. The reason people have a problem with this doctrine,
Number one is because they don't understand salvation. They don't
understand salvation, and so they make a two step error.
Here are the two steps in the error. Step number
(08:43):
one in the error, salvation is asking Jesus into your heart.
That's nowhere in the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible is
anyone told.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
To ask Jesus into their heart.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Never ever, ever a salvation described like that, Never ever, ever, ever,
ever a salvation described as asking Jesus into your heart.
You can't get there from here. That's not biblical. Okay,
it's not or praying to receive Jesus not there. It's
(09:17):
not there, all right, Hell is gonna be chock full
of people who pray to receive Jesus. It's gonna be
chock full of people who received, who asked Jesus in
there their heart. There are people by the millions, by
the millions, who've prayed the sinner's prayer who are gonna
bust hell wide open when they die. Well, but that's
(09:43):
step one in the error. What have we seen throughout
First John? First John says basically, if you don't believe
the Gospel as it was proclaimed, you don't have eternal life.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I don't care what word you rep after the.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Preacher who then told you go write down this date
in your Bible and sign your name there, because this
day your name was sealed in the Lamb's Book of Life,
as though with European you wrote your own name and
in the Lamb's Book of life. Lord help us. So
that's error number one. We believe that salvation equals an
individual repeating the sinner's prayer, asking Jesus into their heart
(10:24):
or receiving Jesus whatever. That's step number one. Here's step
number two. In the process, we rename the doctrine of
eternal security rather than the perseverance of the elect which
bears with it a whole lot of other theological presuppositions.
(10:48):
We say once saved, always saved. That's the second step
in the error. First of all, we redefine what it
means to be saved. What it means to be saved
is to walk the isle and pray the prayer, and
then after that we say once saved, always saved. That's
(11:09):
why every time somebody finds out that you believe in eternal.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Security, they ask, well, what.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
If somebody gets saved? Their definition is walk the is'll
pray the prayer, and then after that they go out
and they just shoot fifty seven hundred people. It's always
something ridiculous, you know, commit adultry ninety eight thousand times,
you know, and then you know all of these you know, well,
what if they do that? What if they do that?
(11:36):
That's always the question, what if they do that? You
believe in this one saved, always saved stuff. Here's what
they're saying. And by the way, they're absolutely right. They're
just turned upside down theologically. They're absolutely right that that
doctrine of one saved, always saved. If we define salvation
as you ask Jesus into your heart, If we define
salvation as you walk the aisle, you pray the prayer,
(11:58):
then they're absolutely right. It's rediculous. It's ridiculous. But here's
where they're making a theological error. A lot of people
who walk down an aisle and prayer prayer are not saved.
Parable of the soils four soils, three of them look
(12:24):
real good. Only one of the three that look good
actually bore fruit, which means three quarters of those who
heard the Gospel according to Jesus parable nothing, and two
thirds of those who heard it and responded affirmatively.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
They heard it and they responded affirmatively, and it looked like, oh,
that's good stuff right there, gone? Two thirds of it gone.
Do we have the parable of the soils? But we
got the scariest verse in the whole Bible, scariest passage
(13:05):
in the whole Bible Matthew seven, twenty one, twenty two. Man,
that's just scary stuff. Not everyone who says to me
Lord Lord, they're calling him lord. They're saying Jesus is
their lord. Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord
will enter into.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
The Kingdom of Heaven.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
But he who does the will of my Father is
in heaven. Many will say to me on that day,
Lord Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Its
preachers by the way, and your name cast out demons
and before many miracles. And I will say to them,
depart from me. I never knew you, you worker of iniquity.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
They pray to.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Prayer, they called him Lord, they even did churchy stuff,
and Jesus says they're lost. So the problem with this
whole idea of once saved always say there's twofold number one.
It's in precise theological language, because that's not the doctrine.
(14:00):
The doctrine is the perseverance of the elect. That's different
than one saved, always saved. The perseverance of the elect
is basically this one of the ways you know that
somebody's really saved.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
They endure to the end. Amen. One saved, always saved.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
That's an entirely different that's an entirely different animal altogether.
Bible doesn't teach that unless you understand salvation from a
Biblical perspective. If a person's truly saved, they're going to
remain saved. Absolutely, Yes, Amen, hallelujah, Praise the Lord. If
a person is truly saved, they're going to remain saved
throughout all eternity. That's what this verse teaches right here.
(14:40):
Not if a person walks an aisle and praise a prayer,
that's it.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
You and I both know. I mean, we could.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Stand up in here and testify from now until next
Sunday about the people we know personally who have prayed
the prayer. People that we know are as lost as
the day is long, and it's almost impossible to witness
to them because they walked an aisle one day and
they pray to prayer one day. There is nothing in them,
(15:13):
around them or about them that says born again. But
when you go to talk to them about the Gospel,
they always tell you done that already. I asked Jesus
into my heart, especially around here. That's one of the
reasons I just I'm so relieved when I get a
chance to go preach outside the Bible belt. I am
(15:36):
because around here everybody's a Christian, not everybody, everybody, beyond everybody, Okay,
everybody's a Christian. It's great every now and then to
go to the Pacific Northwest where people just go NA,
I'm not one of those. I'm a wicked I just
(15:58):
look at them and start smiling. Man, I love you,
but I just said I'm a wicked I know, but
that means you don't believe you're a Christian. It's a
great place for us to start. We're back home in Texas.
I'm looking at people who lived the wicked lifestyle. But
I start talking to him about Jesus and they go,
(16:19):
oh yeah, me and him, Well right here, man, like
my brother from another mother. You know, we just in Jesus.
In Jesus, we got an understanding. That's what you hear
run the South, and it's absolute wickedness. And by the way,
John has already addressed that. Look back again chapter two
(16:42):
and verse nineteen. What does he say about individuals who
walked an aisle pray to prayer started real good, but
then they just went off the deep end? What does
John say about them? Does he say that they had
salvation and they lost it? Look at John chapter first,
John chapter two and verse nineteen. They went out from us,
(17:02):
but they were not all of us. For if they
had been of us, they would have continued with us.
That's the doctrine of eternal security right there. That's the
doctrine of the perseverance of the elect John says, one
of the evidences that a person is a Christian is
they remain till the end.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
That's one of the evidences.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Not that it's a license to sin if you pray
a prayer at an altar, but that one of the
evidences that a person is truly converted is that they
remain till the end. That's the doctrine of eternal security,
not this one saved, always say live any kind of
way you want. They went out from us because they
were not all of us. If they had been able
(17:44):
to continue with us, with us look at the next
part of the verse. But they went out that it
might become plain that they all are not of us.
Why'd they leave so that we would see that they
weren't really Christian. There's not a dilemma there, there's no dilemma.
(18:10):
So these people who argue for you know, they make
that two step error era number one, how we define Christianity,
Era number two, misstating the doctrine. You know, yeah, y'all
believe in that one saved, always save stuff like a
person can go live any kind of way they want
to live, you know. And this is some people when
they find out you believe in eternal security, that's where
they go. That's where they go. And it all starts
(18:31):
with that two step error. That's not what John is
speaking of in One John, chapter five and verse thirteen.
A person is truly converted, a person is truly born again.
They have eternal life as a present possession. And one
(18:54):
of the evidences of that, and we already looked at
the evidence that they will bear fruit. We already talked
about that. But one of the other evidences of that
is they will endure. They will endure. It's going to happen.
They will endure. When it's all said and done, be
(19:19):
there in the end. Does this doctrine teach that they
won't fall? Help you if you believe that. That's not
what this doctrine teaches. This doctrine just teaches that they'll
endure to the end, they'll get up, they'll come to repentance.
(19:44):
In fact, they're His. So it may even be worse
for them than for others. Why he says in Revelation
three nineteen, those whom I love I reprove and discipline. Therefore,
be jealous and re In other words, Jesus says, if
you're mind, I'll take you to the woodshed.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Amen. And some of you know what I'm talking.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
About, because you know other people who've gone through that,
you see, and you could just come over here and
testify about those other people that you know who went
through a time where they weren't walking like they were
supposed to be walking, and thought they were just gonna
get away with it, and God just beat them like
a tied up goat and brought them back home, a
(20:38):
little bloody and bruised, but back home. And so the
first assurance that we have as he closes this letter
that's just letters about by the way, a lot of
people look at First John and think, man, First John's
about making us doubt our salvation. And remember when we
(20:59):
start this, I told you that there were going to
be weeks for each one of us in this room
where we'd sit there and go, oh, I'm not saved.
There's just no way in the world. Man, I'm just oh, well,
there's me right there. I'm going I'm out. First John's
not about making us doubt our salvation. If anything, is
(21:21):
we've gone through this entire letter, what it does for
those who belong to him, is it actually settles us
and encourages us.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Amen, where we go.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You know, I may do ABC from time to time,
but that's not my walk, that's not my life, that's
not my character, and that's why when I do it,
it just eats me up. He wrote this not so
that believers would doubt their salvation. He wrote this so
(21:56):
when people came from the outside and tried to redefine
what it meant to be a believer, when people came
from the outside and tried to make believers doubt that
they had what they had, that these individuals would know
that they have eternal life. I don't need what you're selling,
because it doesn't get any better than eternal Amen. I
(22:19):
don't need what you're selling. I got it all God,
eternal life, I got Jesus. That's all I need. Everything
that I need is found in Him. I am lacking nothing, nothing.
(22:40):
So we can have confidence, we can know that we're His,
We can know that we have eternal life as a
present possession. Does that mean we can have arrogance. No,
not arrogance. In fact, the arrogance would come from that
other two step false definition. You know, I got insurance.
(23:03):
Now I can do whatever I want. That's the arrogance. No,
this brings us to humility, This brings us to This
keeps us on our face before Almighty God. This keeps
us examining our belief. Do I believe? Am I believing?
And by the way, that's what he says here, those
(23:23):
of you who are believing on the name of the
Son of God, Am I believing? By the way, let
me just say a word here, just about that verb tense,
because some of us just need to be freed up.
There are some of you in this room and you
doubt your salvation because of this same deal over here,
over here, people define being saved as you know, you
walk the aisle, you prayed the prayer, and so it's
(23:46):
you know, this kind of vision of a moment in
time where they point to and say, on this day
and that there are some people because of the lives
that we led before we came to faith in Christ,
we had that. I'm one of those individuals. Didn't grew
up in the church. I didn't grow up around Christians.
I didn't grow up around Christianity, never heard of the Gospel.
To my freshman year in college, raised by a single
(24:07):
teenage Buddhist mother, it was radical and obvious when I
came to faith in Jesus Christ, from darkness to light,
the darker the darkness the bright of the light.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
And some people look at that and they go, well,
I don't have that, I don't have that. Why don't
I have that? Am I really saved? Was I really saved?
Especially individuals who grew up in church. You grew up
in church, you grew up around Christians, you were brought
up in the Word.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And as a result of that. And my prayer is
that this.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Is every one of our children's experience, that they are
so immersed and so bathed in the Word that one
day they just realized that they are believing.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Not that it it was radical darkness and then they
come to light, but that one day they just realized
that they're believing. Or some go through this. You have
this experience early on. You know, you're four or five
years old, Where's where's Jesus? See he in my heart?
(25:22):
You four or five years old, they baptized you before
you could reach the bottom of the pool. And then
several years later you realize you had no idea what
you were doing, no understanding of any of that, and
you're living like an unbeliever. It was two problems. Problem
number one, what do you do? This is the classic
(25:44):
fifteen sixteen, seventeen year old who grew up, you know,
in church and had that early experience. You know, that's
the first question. What do you do? Do I need
to get saved again? Well? No, if you were saved,
there is no getting saved again. Well do I need
to really get saved this time? Was my baptism fraudulent?
Was it appropriate?
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Was it? You know?
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Then we go through that whole difficulty, And if we
don't handle that appropriately, then here's what ends up happening.
The next time you find yourself in a place where
Satan tempts you with despair, you ask, what was the
second time real? First time was it? And I went
through the whole thing again, So maybe the second time
(26:23):
I went through it? Maybe that wasn't real either, And
the first time wasn't real, and the second time wasn't really.
How will I ever know that the third time is real?
If I decide to do that again. CAUs, just bring
some comfort to us.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
All.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I write these things to those of you who are
believing the name of the Son of God. You may
not be able to settle the question as to when
you were saved. That's not as important as the question
of whether you're saved. Are you believing? You may not
(27:02):
be able to work out though?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Was it then? Was it later? Was it now?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
You may not be able to work that out. And
you can beat yourself up over that if you want to.
I mean, if you just feel like you need to
do that, you know, I mean, you just go ahead.
You can do that if you feel like that's what
you need to do and that's the way you need
to spend your time. But I would like to suggest
that there might be a better way, and that better
way might be Are you.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Believing right now?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Well, I was wrong on Jesus, and I had all
these false doctrines and I was all of this and
all of that. Okay, fine, Repentance and faith that's all
we got. How do you come to Christ? Repentance and faith? Well,
I don't know if back then, if I was really okay, fine,
what do you got right now?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Repentance and faith? Are you believing?
Speaker 1 (27:55):
That's who has assurance, the one who's believing, the one
who's trusts, the one who's walking, the one who's following
Are you believing? Are you right now living the life
of repentance and faith? That's the question you ask yourself.
That's when we have assurance. Not only do we have
that assurance in our salvation, but in prayer as well.
(28:21):
Look at verse fourteen. And this 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, and whatever we ask, we know
that we have the request that we have asked of him.
Now here's where we make another series of doctrinal errors. Okay,
(28:41):
First of all, what does he mean here by confidence?
This is the confidence? Is that confidence our attitude? Does
it have to do with something else? He uses that
word confidence? The Greek word is translated confidence. He uses
several times here in the book of First John. I
want us to look at those places where we use
it uses it. First of all, look at John chapter
two and verse twenty eight. Now, little children abide in him,
(29:07):
so that when he appears, we may have confidence and
not shrink from him in shame at his coming. So
that would be the opposite of shrinking from him in shame.
Now look at chapter three and verse twenty one. Beloved,
if your heart does not, if our heart does not
(29:29):
condemn us, we have confidence before God. And when whatever
we ask, we receive from him because we keep his
commandments and do what pleases him. Then he uses it
again in chapter four and verse seventeen. By this is
love perfected with us. So we have confidence for the
(29:53):
day of judgment, because as he is, so also are
we in this world. But the word is used elsewhere
in a different way. Look at the way John uses
it here and a few other passages, for example, in
the Gospel of John John chapter seven. If you want
to get to the Gospel of John John chapter seven,
is a few from chapter seven here in chapter ten,
(30:14):
chapter eleven, chapter sixteen. Well, just look at a few
of these to give you an idea of this this
word group, this Greek word group coming from this particular
route John chapter seven and verse four. And it's parisa
(30:37):
for no one works in secret, if he seeks to
be known openly. That's the Greek word to be known openly.
Look at John seven thirteen. Yet for fear of the Jews,
no one spoke openly of him. That's the same word
(31:02):
speaking openly. Look at ten and verse twenty four. So
the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how
long will you keep us in suspense? If you are
the Christ, tell us plainly, same Greek word, same Greek root,
(31:22):
tell us plainly Now Chapter eleven, verse fifty four. Jesus
therefore no longer walked openly among us, walked openly among us.
The word that's used here is not about just having
(31:45):
an attitude of confidence. The word used here for being
confident is about us speaking openly. In fact, one of
the translations of this word is freedom of speech.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Freedom. We have freedom of speech.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
So, in other words, this is the freedom that we
have to speak to him openly. This is the freedom
that we have to speak. Why do we have freedom
to speak to God openly? Why can we bring anything
to God in prayer and speak openly to God about
all these things? Here's the freedom that we have back
in our passage that if we ask anything according to
(32:27):
his will, he hears us. If we ask anything according
to his will, he hears us. Let's just be clear
on something. Our assurance in prayer is not based in formulas.
It's not based in tricks. There's one school of thought,
(32:49):
and it's a heretical school of thought, and it basically
goes like this, faith is a force. Words are the
containers of that force. Therefore, with our words we can
speak things into reality if we have the proper faith.
(33:11):
That's the idea, So I become sovereign, not God. And
those who believe this will often take it to the
next level and say that when we pray, we shouldn't
say things like if it's your will, because that's doubt.
(33:32):
We don't want doubt to enter in. Listen to what
Fred Price has said. Now this is a shocker, but
God has to be given permission to work in this
earth realm on behalf of man. Yes, you are in control.
So if man has control, who no longer has it God?
(33:53):
When God gave Adam dominion, that God no longer had dominion.
So God cannot do anything in this earth unless we
let him. And the way we let him or give
him permission is through prayer. Christ goes on to say this,
(34:15):
if you have to say if it be thy will
or thy will be done, then you're calling God a fool.
How about his friend Benny Hen never ever ever go
to the Lord and say, if it be thy will,
don't allow such faith destroying words to be spoken from
(34:38):
your mouth. There are a couple of problems with this number.
One the verse at hand. The verse at hand says,
this is the confidence that we have toward him, that
if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
Here's the second problem. When Jesus is in the garden
(34:59):
of Go and he's praying. First of all, when he
teaches us to pray, he teaches us to pray Thy
Kingdom come, Thy will be done. So Jesus teaches us
how to pray, and he teaches us to pray that
God's will be done. Not only does he teach us that,
but he models it for us in the garden of gsemone,
(35:21):
if there's any other way, let this bitter cup pass
from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
So the Kenneth Hagen's of the world, the kend of
Copelands of the world, the many Hens of the world,
the fred Prices of the world, the Maryland Hickeys of
(35:42):
the world, and the list goes on and on and
on and on. The whole word faith movement has basically
twisted scripture up in a knot. What does the Bible
say about this. Listen to this. You have to turn
to these or several of them in a lot of
different places. Matthew chapter six, verse nine. Pray, then, like this,
(36:04):
our father arred in heaven. How will be thy name,
your kingdom?
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Come?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Your will be done enough as it is in Heaven
Acts chapter eighteen, verse twenty one. But on taking leave
of them, he said, I will return to you if
God wills, First Corinthians, chapter four and verse nineteen. But
I will come to you soon if the Lord wills,
and will find out and will find out not the
(36:27):
talk of these arrogant people, but their power one Corinthians
sixteen and seven. For I do not want to see
you now, just in passing. I hope to spend some
time with you if the Lord permits. Hebrews chapter six
and verse three. And this we will do if God permits.
(36:48):
And of course, James four fifteen, don't go around talking
about what you're gonna do, but instead you ought to say,
if the Lord wills, we will live and do this
or that. First Peter three seventeen. For it is better
to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will,
than for doing evil. First Peter four nineteen. Therefore, let
(37:09):
those who suffer according to God's will and trust their
souls to a faithful creator while doing good. It's his will.
It's his will. You know if often have people come
to me and they'll say to me things like, you know,
(37:30):
I notice it. Sometimes you don't pray in Jesus's name,
but I always pray in Jesus name. Well, No, sometimes
you don't. You know, when you in your prayer you
don't say in Jesus name.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Amen. Well.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Why why is it that sometimes when you in your
prayer you don't say in Jesus name amen.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Well? For several reasons.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Number one, because in Jesus's name is not a stamp
that you put at the end of prayers. You know,
if we ask anything in his name, then we have
what we ask. That doesn't mean that you put the
phrase in Jesus' name on the end of your prayer.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
How do I know this?
Speaker 1 (38:01):
There's not one prayer in the New Testament that ends
with the phrase in Jesus' name. Now one out of
all the prayers recorded in the New Testament, not one
of them has at the end of it in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Not one.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Here's the other thing, what does it mean to pray
in Jesus' name? Was Jesus actually trying to say to us,
If you say a prayer and at the end of
the prayer you put this proper stamp, because you can't
be delivered if you don't put the right stamp, and
that stamp is the phrase in Jesus's name, then whatever
you've just asked for, if you put that stamp on
the end of it, then you're gonna get it. Well,
(38:46):
if Jesus meant that, then here's what I could do.
I can say, Jesus, stop being God in Jesus's name.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
I put the phrase on the end. Am I going
to get it? No? Why?
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Because it violates his will, it violates his character or
his nature.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Means the same thing that it means to be an
ambassador in someone's name. If I'm an ambassador, you know,
the president says, Boddy, I want you to be the
ambassador to.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Whatever. Okay, fine, what does that mean? That means?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
As the ambassador, I go to that foreign land, and
I represent the president of this country, and I speak
things in his name which means what according to his will,
according to his authority, and according to his nature. So
(39:58):
when I pray in Jesus name, That's why a lot
of times, at the end of my prayer I say,
we asked this because we believe that it's in accordance
with your will and your nature and your authority. If
it's outside of his will, is that what we're gonna get? Nope,
if it's outside of his nature. Can I ask God
for something outside of the nature of God.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
And expect that.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
No, if it's outside of his authority, it's about my
authority and not God's.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Authority, I'm I gonna get that. Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Now does that mean that when we say our prayers
we shouldn't say at the end in Jesus Nay, that's
not what I'm saying. Sometimes I say that, but at
other times I don't. To remind myself here, I want
to remind myself that prayer is not a formula to
get what I want. Prayer is an act of obedience
to Almighty God. Well, then some ask this, Well, what
(40:54):
I mean, If that's the case, then why pray? If
God's just gonna do what's in accordance with his will?
And his nature and authority. Then why pray?
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Well? At least a couple of reasons. Number one, because
he told us to Amen.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Here's the other. I don't pray to bend God's will
to me. I pray to bend me to God's will.
Did you catch that? Unfortunately most of us think prayer
is about bending God's will to us. Think of yourself
(41:31):
as a ship and God as the land there were
You're gonna war your ship. Now if I tie my
ship to that port and pull on the rope, is
the port gonna come to my ship? Or is my
ship gonna come to the port? God's the port, not
(41:52):
the ship. When we pray, we are bringing ourselves in
line with the will of God, not God in line
with our will. And by the way, who among us
would really want God's will to be bent toward us.
I don't have all the facts, people, Amen, I don't
(42:15):
see the whole field.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
God does. God sees it all.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
So the last thing I want is for God to
see it all and to know everything down there that
would be in accordance with him gaining maximum glory, and
then have me request something that would bring me some
glory and compromise some of his glory. But because I
said it with the right formula, he compromises his own
glory in favor of mine. You can have that all day,
(42:47):
every day, and twice on Sunday. That's not biblical prayer.
That's not biblical prayer. Well, is it meaningless? No, it's
a means that God employs. Look at here in the
last part of this text. We also have confidence and intercession.
(43:10):
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading
to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life.
To those who commit sins that do not lead to death,
there is sin that leads to death. I do not
say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin,
but there is sin that does not lead to death.
There are a couple of questions here. First of all,
before we ask those questions, here's what we know. Here's
(43:31):
what we know. We know that God is saying here
that our prayer on behalf of our brethren is a
means that God honors and uses.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
That's good news. Amen.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Our prayer on behalf of our brethren is a means
that God uses. So it's meaningful for us to do that,
just empty for us to do that. Let's know what
Calvin says about this. The apostle extends still further the
benefits of this faith which he has mentioned, so that
(44:08):
our prayers may also avail for our brethren. It is
a great thing that as soon as we are oppressed,
God kindly invites us to himself and is ready to
give us help. But that he hears us asking for
others is no small confirmation to our faith in order
that we may be fully assured that we shall never
meet with a repulse in our own case. Amn Calvin says,
(44:35):
this is just good news. God hears me when I
pray on behalf of the brethren. God will use my
prayer as a means on behalf of the brethren. How
much more will he use it on my own behalf?
(44:55):
God will use it so just like if my brother
is in so God will use a direct rebuke or confrontation.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Here's what's just been said in this text. God will
use that. And we understand that, we understand God using
that means of.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
Instruction and correction and confrontation or encouragement or whatever. But
what this text teaches is that my prayer on behalf
of the brethren is as much a means to be
used by God as my words. Two, my brethren, just
(45:34):
try to wrap your mind around that one for a minute.
That'll lead us to more prayer, not less.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
But then there's this statement here about a sin not
leading to death. Let's finish up here, make a clarification
or two and wrap this all up together. There are
three ways that he uses death. Number one, we can
talk about physical death. A person's body dies physically, and
some argue here that that's what this means. I don't agree.
(46:05):
For example, Charles Ryer says believers can sin to the
point of physical death, to the point where physical death
results as a judgment of God. The Greek reads sin
not a sin in verse sixteen and seventeen, implying not
a single act, but acts that have the character of
sin leading to death. So Rary argues that he's talking
about physical death here. I disagree with that position. I understand,
(46:27):
but I disagree with that position for a number of reasons,
not least of which is this, how do we know
which sin is going to lead to physical death? And
what he's talking about here? He assumes that his readers understand,
how do we know if it's a sin? That leads
to the physical death. Now we know that sin lead to
physical death. Acts Chapter five and An II sins or fire,
(46:49):
God killed them in church?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
No less amen doesn't really happen a lot though, But
it happened. It happened.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
But I mean, why do we know? Do we have
this category? Has this category been given to us? We
also know, for example, in One Corinthians, chapter eleven, Paul
talks about the Lord's table and about judging ourselves rightly.
Some of you haven't, and that's why some of you
are sick and some of you have died.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
So again, we know.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
There's a connection net a physical death, but that's problematic. Secondly,
there's spiritual death, and thirdly there's the second death. Let
me say that I believe when he's talking about the
sin not leading to death, that he's talking about the latter.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
He's talking about the latter, not physical death.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
No, No, he's talking about a sin that leads us
to the death that separates us from God.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Why do I believe that one? Well, there's a couple
of reasons.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Number one, he says that for that one, he wouldn't
advise us to pray. Lo get what he says, I
do not say that one should pray for that. At
the end of verse sixteen, there's a sin that leads
to death. I do not say that one should pray
for that. In other words, there's a brother who is
committing a sin that leads to the kind of death
that he's talking about, and he says, for that one,
(48:28):
you shouldn't pray.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
Well, why not? Here's why.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
What does Jesus tell us about this sin that leads
to that kind of death? Everything else will be forgiven.
There's one that won't blash me against the Holy Spirit,
which we know through our treatment of that text earlier,
is a rejection of the spirit of God. It's a
rejection of the spirit of God. That's it. That's the
(49:00):
one that there's no pardon for.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
It's done.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
You've rejected the only means of salvation. It's over. It's done.
So I am I going to pray this God. This
person has rejected your spirit. They have completely rejected the
(49:24):
salvation that you've offered. But would you please save them
anyway that would not be in accordance.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
With His will, his nature, or his authority.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
Now I may pray that they wouldn't do that, but
I'm not going to pray that God would somehow change
the rules for this individual. When I see my brother
in sin, I pray for him all the way. This
(50:15):
is why we're at the back. Listen to this James
five thirteen to fifteen. Is anyone among you suffering, let
him pray? Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise? Is
anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders
of the church and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil and the name of the Lord. And
the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick,
(50:37):
and the Lord will raise him up, And if he
has committed sins, he will be forgiven. They connect sin
and sickness there, and again we know from First Corinthians
chapter eleven if there's that connection between sin and sickness.
(50:57):
So when he's talking about this particular prayer here, but
what he's talking about is not you know, I have
an ache, would you pray for me? That's not while
we're at the back. We're at the back because sometimes
you're sick because of sin, and you need to confess
and repent and be prayed for dealing with something that
(51:20):
you think might be connected to sin. That's when you
call for the elders. And God says that prayers effectual.
(51:47):
Why because obviously he wills it, So if he didn't,
it wouldn't be. And so when he talks about this, God,
would you heal this or that, remove this or that,
(52:12):
He makes it very clear, and we're not talking about
that sin that leads to death, that rejection of God. See,
if you're rejecting God, what you desperately need is to
come to that place of repentance and faith. So where
(52:40):
do we have assurance. We have assurance first and foremost
of eternal life for those of us who come to
that place of repentance and faith and believe the Gospel as.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
It's been proclaimed and preserved.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Secondly, we have assurance in prayer for those of us
who ask according to the will and the nature and
the authority of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ,
the author and perfector of our faith. Finally, we have
assurance in the intercession that God, in his wisdom, has
(53:18):
chosen to use the means of brothers praying for one
another when they find themselves having fallen into sin. And
all of these things we have assurance not because of ourselves.
But because of Christ, who purchased our pardon on Calvary's tree,
(53:44):
That's where our assurance lies. So I'm not assured of
my salvation because of me. I'm not assured in my prayer.
Because of me, I have more faith than everybody else.
I know how to tie God up in knots and
force him to do what I want him to do,
(54:04):
better than everybody. Yet, no, no, no, that's not why. That's
not why. It's because of Christ. And finally, I have
assurance and intercession because the Lord has told us that
when we pray for one another, that prayer will avail,
(54:26):
that that prayer is meaningful, that that prayer is what
He desires from us and for us as a means
that He has chosen to employ. So what do we
do with this? Let's have confidence that we belong to him.
(54:48):
For those of us who come to repentance and faith.
Let's have confidence as we pray, making sure that we're
praying in accordance with the will and the nature and
the authority of Christ, which means that the scriptures are
to guide our prayer and not just our own selfish desires.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (55:08):
And finally, let's have confidence as we intercede for one another,
because God would have us do that, and God will
use that. So let's take it seriously. When that prayergram
comes across our email, we put it wherever we put it.
(55:33):
Let's take seriously our opportunity and our privilege to intercede
for one another, trusting that God will honor that, trusting
that God will use that not because of who we are,
but because of the finished work.
Speaker 2 (55:52):
Of Jesus Christ on the cross. That's why, no other reason,
let's pray
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