Can you be sure where you stand with God? Can you know what will happen to you when you die? Can you be certain whether God will love and accept you, or not?
Many people today would say that this kind of certainty is the height of arrogance.
It’s presumptuous to be certain that God will accept you on the last day.
How dare the Christian claim that they can know that God approves of them.
1 John takes a different approach. John would say that certainty is not arrogance. It’s not presumptuous. It’s a gift for every Christian. It’s something we are entitled to. We can know that we can know God. We can be sure that we have eternal life.
That’s what he says in verse 13. It’s why he wrote his letter. 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. We can be sure. We must be sure. John wants us to be sure.
We’ve had four and a half chapters seeking to reassure us. If you want to catch up any of what you’ve missed, it’s all on the church website. But now it’s time for John to wrap up. And it’s time for us to wrap up.
It’s good to be sure. And John spells out for us just how good it is when you know you know God.
Here are 3 benefits of knowing you have eternal life. 3 ways life is good if you are sure. 3 things you can know.
You can know God answers your prayers
Firstly, you can know God answers your prayers. You can know God answers your prayers.
John spells this out in verses 14 to 17. Verse 14: We can know that God hears us. And verse 15 tells us what that means. We aren’t heard and ignored. We have the things we ask.
One of my old sixth form teachers had most annoying habit. From time to time they’d ask a few of us how things were going. Anything that could change? Sixth formers are grown up like that - you can have that kind of conversation. Every time we suggested something, the answer we got back is: I hear you. And that was all there was to it. It was hear as opposed to listen. Hear as opposed to do. Hear as opposed to change.
God is not like that.
We can all think of times God hasn’t answered our prayers. Verse 14 tells us why: We have to ask according to his will. That sounds like the most massive let-out clause. It sounds like God only answers our prayers when he feels like it.
But that’s not how God’s will works. Firstly, God’s will is good. God is good. So what God wants is good. So it’s a good thing that God only gives us things that fit with his will.
Think about it for a moment. Suppose this weren’t true. Suppose God gave us everything we asked for, regardless with whether it fitted with his plans and wishes.
You’ll remember the story of King Midas. The king who wished that everything he touched turned to gold. It was a dream come true. He could have gold fruit. A gold house. A gold car. A gold watch. But he got more than he bargained for. Eventually, he even turned the wife he loved into gold.
Imagine God gave us absolutely everything we asked for. If we had an ounce of sense, we’d never pray. If we did, we’d end up asking for all the wrong things. And we’d just get them. It’s a good thing that God only answers prayers according to his will. God’s will is good.
Second, God’s will is what matters. Ask Jesus how to pray, he gives you the Lord’s Prayer. Right at the heart of that prayer is this line: Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. That’s at the heart of all true prayer. Asking that God’s will might be done.
That’s because God’s will is what matters. His big plan for history. His overarching purposes. His detailed plans for each one of us. That is what matters. And when we pray we ask that the things that matter to God come about.
Many people think that prayer is trying to get God to see the world from our point of view. It matters to me that I get this job. Please can I have it. If you write to your MP about something, that’s what you’re doing. You’re saying: This piece of immigration policy. This education need for Sevenoaks. This person who should get more benefits. This matters to me. Please can it matter to you. Please represent it in government for me.
In fact, prayer is the other way around, isn’t it. It’s a way of bringing ourselves to see the world from God’s point of view. It’s taking the issues that matter to us, and bringing them to God. Asking that his will be done. God’s will is what matters.
And third, God’s will is revealed. We’ll think more about this in a minute. Wouldn’t it be frustrating if praying was like playing some chance lottery game. You pick your numbers. You scratch off the panel. You see if you were lucky. Trying to pray in line with God’s will, but it’s a stab in the dark.
But it’s not. Part of the good news is that God has stepped into the open and made himself known. He hasn’t told us everything. He doesn’t lead us through life like a driving examiner. Take the next turning on the left. Pull over just here. But he has told us about himself. The things that are dear to his heart. Where history is heading.
And so with every year that passes, we can know our Bibles a bit better. We learn to apply the Bible to our lives. And so we learn more and more how to pray in line with God’s will. God’s will is revealed.
But John’s point is that we can know God will answer our prayers. And we can know this because we can know we have eternal life. We’re not going to ask for something that is right in line with God’s will, only for him to turn around and say: What makes you think I should listen to you? Who do you think you are, speaking to me like that?
God would never do that. If we believe in the name of the Son of God, we can know that we have eternal life. And if we know that we have eternal life, we can know that God answers our prayers.
It’s a great privilege, but it’s not one to use selfishly.
Verses 16 and 17 tell us to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters, too.
What do you pray for your fellow Christians? I hope you ask God for all kinds of things for them. But John asks us to pray in a very specific scenario.
Imagine you see another Christian you know in some kind of sin. What do you do? There are some not great responses. Gossip about it. Feel smug that you wouldn’t do it. Not care at all. There are better responses. Try and help restore them. Get alongside them in friendship and support.
John says: Pray for them. Pray for their forgiveness. Pray for their repentance. Pray for their restoration.
This is not with all sin. John says this is only with sins that don’t lead to death. In the context of this letter, sin that leads to death is turning your back on Jesus. Denying that he’s God’s Son, the Christ. And showing your denial by being totally loveless towards your fellow Christians. John’s not asking us to pray for people who turn away like this.
And he’s not talking about being a busybody either. These are sins that you see. In public. Visible. Unmissable. Not a suspicion that they’re probably up to no good, if only you could prove it!
There’s the first benefit of knowing we have eternal life: You can know that God answers your prayers.
You can know Jesus will keep you safe
The other two are quicker.
Here’s the second: You can know Jesus will keep you safe.
If you’re not careful, reading 1 John can leave you scared rather than reassured.
It’s a jungle out there. People leave churches to pursue their own agendas. People teach things that deny the heart of the Christian faith. People show no love for their fellow Christians. People live as though what God says does not matter. People in the church living as much for their possessions, owned and hoped for, as everybody else. It’s a jungle.
As I say, it’s got the potential to be quite scary. What chance have I got, a normal Christian, of staying on track. So many difficulties on the path. So many bright and glittery things to tempt me off the road. The chance of me making it to the end of my life, still living for Christ, are pretty slim.
Not so, says John. If you know that you have eternal life, you can also know Jesus will keep you safe. The world may be in the hands of the evil one.
But if you’re born of God, you have the best big brother you could want. Jesus is the one who was born of God. And he protects you. The evil one cannot touch you.
William and Kate left hospital this week without a police escort. That was their choice. I strongly suspect there was some well hidden security in place the whole time. If you’re carrying a fragile baby who is heir to the throne, you need someone to watch your back. That’s the thing about being royal. You have security provided. Bodyguards. Armed police. They watch your back. They keep you safe. The rest of us don’t have this. We have to look after ourselves.
John says that God treats you like royalty. Jesus personally watches your back. He will keep you safe. He won’t let these distractions and denials lead you off the path.
You can know Jesus will keep you safe.
You can know that you know God truly
And third, you can know that you know God truly. You can know that you know God truly.
Here’s verse 20: We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding. He is the true God and eternal life.
Here’s the other way you want to be sure. Can I know God reliably? Can I sure that the God I’m putting all my trust in is the real God?
You probably know the story of the elephant and the blind men. 4 blind men are exploring an elephant, trying to work out what they have in front of them. One has the tail, and decides he is exploring a piece of rope. Another has the front leg, and decides he is exploring an old and weathered tree. Another finds the tusk, and decides he is exploring a sharp curved sword. And so on.
It is then explained that this is what the world’s religions are like. Each religion has hold of a different part of God. But they’re all blind. None of them can see the whole picture.
That’s what we want to know. Am I like a blind man? Fumbling around? Got hold of a bit of God. Never sure if the bits I haven’t got hold of would give me a different picture.
John says that you can know that you know God truly. We’re not blind. We’re not trying to work out God for ourselves. We haven’t got hold of just one part of the elephant. Because the Son of God has come. And he has given us understanding, so that we can know him who is true.
We’re not blind because God has stepped into history. The Son of God has come. He has made himself known. He has allowed himself to be seen, touched, heard and handled by men who had their eyes wide open. We may not know all there is to know about him, but what we do know we can be absolutely sure of.
You can know that you know God truly.
Conclusion
John wraps up his letter in verse 21. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
We may think of an idol as a physical thing. A model of some deity. A statue, or similar.
Idols can be mental as well as physical. An idol is any false god. And John wants to urge us: Keep yourselves from idols. Guard yourselves from any false god. Don’t settle for an imitation.
For these Christians, it was actually a false Jesus they were tempted by. It doesn’t matter what it is. Keep yourself from them.
God has revealed himself for real in the person of Jesus. The God we see in the person of Jesus is simply too wonderful. He promises us eternal life.
Life we can be sure we have.
A relationship with the living God that lasts for all eternity.
The certainty that God hears and answers our prayers.
The security of knowing that Jesus is personally keeping us safe.
The confidence that the God we know is the real one.
If the real God promises you life like this, stick with him. Don’t settle for any imitations. Keep yourselves from idols. Keep on following this God, and his Son Jesus Christ, for the rest of your life.