9/21/25 “A Confident Faith”
“A Confident Faith”
1 John 5:13-21
How many of you were here for Friday’s ‘Voices in the Valley’ Concert?
Did you enjoy it?....were you blessed?
Music is such a powerful form of communication…especially when we use it to glorify and praise God - the one who gave us the gift of music in the first place.
There are so many benefits to engaging with music….
Music can improve your mood, reduce anxiety, enhance one’s memory and cognitive function ( I could use a lot more of that!)
…It can alleviate pain, foster social connections, promote better sleep, boost the immune system, and – motivate us to run that extra mile…or push through that last set of reps in the gym….especially if you’re listening to “Eye of the Tiger” (I’m dating myself with that reference!)
…and music can move us emotionally like nothing else.
…Think of the crustiest, most ill-tempered, harsh individual you know….and I guarantee there’s a song out there that has the power to make that curmudgeon cry like a baby.
There is – indeed – power in music.
I am completely aware that some of you are inspired – to a greater degree - by the music during a worship service….than words spoken from behind the pulpit…it’s ok…as a musician, I understand that.
…Maybe I should start singing my sermons…that would be interesting, wouldn’t it.
That’s why nights like Friday are so impactful to many people.
There’s also something else about music that maybe you’ve never realized, or thought about.
Almost all western music has something called a ‘Tonic Note’
Think of the tonic note as the ‘home base’ of a song…it’s the note that provides a sense of stability….a sense of resolution or satisfaction…
…the tonic note is - almost always – the note a song will end on.
If a song doesn’t end on its tonic note…it just feels wrong…the song feels unresolved
For example, one of the most requested songs at retirement homes is the song “Crazy”….
….the last phrase of the song goes like this: “I’m crazy for tryin’, crazy for cryin’, and I’m crazy for loving…….
Now if I were to stop there, it would just feel wrong….right?
Even now as I’m talking about it….many of you are like….Just hit the last note already!…I can’t stand this tension!
Ok, fine. “You”
What you were squirming over was the fact that the tonic note was never sung….it left you feeling ‘unsatisfied’
Every song you heard on Friday night ended on the tonic note…most all music does…except Jazz…but nobody listens to jazz anyway. 😊
The book of 1 John is – in many ways – like a song.
Like similar notes in a scale, John utilizes many of the same themes throughout the letter….
He uses these themes to build a piece of scriptural music that teaches us about love…obedience…Jesus’ nature…doctrinal truth…and assurance of salvation…
If I were to try and name the “Song” of 1 John, I think I would give it the name: “True Love”…love & truth are the central ideas of this amazing letter.
So – today – we finish the song of 1 John….
…and today’s passage - is like the “Tonic Note”
…today’s passage wraps everything up in a way that leaves us with a feeling of satisfaction…with a sense of completion….
Let’s begin by looking at verse 13 (1 John 5:13)
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life”
Here John reveals to us the reason why he felt compelled to write the letter…
Or to put it another way…verse 13 is his thesis statement.
If 1 John is a song, this is the exact moment when John hits the final note…the tonic note…
….and the rest of today’s passage consists of the lingering tone of this single verse….the ‘morendo’, for you musical people.
Let’s look at what John is saying here in verse 13.
He’s writing this letter to believers….those who trust Jesus for their salvation…
..those who have accepted him as their Lord & Savior
…and John is saying to these Jesus followers that this letter is meant to encourage them in their ability to know – with certainty – without a shadow of a doubt – that they have already received eternal life through their faith in Christ.
This verse is similar to one we find in John’s gospel.
John 20:31 states, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
In other words, John wrote his gospel so that people might believe and be saved….while he wrote the letter of 1 John for those who believe to know that they are saved.
The final crescendo of this letter – the tonic note of resolution – it rings with the harmonic overtones of - Confidence.
As believers – as children of God – we can have confidence in our salvation!
John knew that we needed to be continually reminded of this.
I’ve always loved playing the game of basketball.
But it’s a game that requires a great deal of individual confidence…if you want to be an effective player.
Jerry West once said: “Confidence is everything in this game. If you don’t think you can, you won’t.”
Truth be told…I always struggled with consistent confidence on the basketball court….
….If I missed my first few shots of a game…I would usually miss most of the shots I took after that….I had a lack of confidence in my ability to score.
On the other hand, if I made my first few shots…I would normally go on to make a good percentage of my shots throughout the remainder of the game…
My effectiveness on the basketball court was – in large part - predicated upon my level of confidence that day…
I always admired those players who could retain a high level of confidence in their shooting ability – even after missing a bunch of shots in a row.
John knew that many of us can fall victim to have an inconsistent confidence regarding our faith as well…
So, he devotes the final 9 verses of this masterpiece of a letter to the confidence – or certainty - that believers can have regarding various aspects of one’s faith.
The first of these is eternal life…mentioned here in verse 13.
Now…when we think of eternal life, we usually envision the future….we visualize living forever in heaven with our savior…and others who were followers of Jesus.
…and this is definitely a part of what eternal life means…
….but eternal life is even more than that.
Biblically speaking, eternal life not only refers to duration, or a quantity of time….
….but also….and maybe even more importantly…it refers to a specific quality of life.
…it refers to the ability to experience deep-seated joy in one’s heart….to experience supernatural peace….
along with things like love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
…and this is something that believers have today…right now.
To put it another way, to have “eternal life” in the present tense, is to know Jesus Christ….to walk with the savior day by day.
Brothers & Sisters….that is the true essence of eternal life!
If you are In Christ….you are experiencing eternal life – right here, right now.
Verses 14 & 15 of our passage for today bring us to the second facet of our faith in which we can have complete confidence….prayer.
Verse 14 (1 John 5:14) says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us.”
Prayer is probably the area where most believers would say they lack consistent confidence…
…we’ve all prayed for something that didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.
…From our perspective, it’s like putting up a shot in basketball that doesn’t go in the hoop….and it shakes our confidence in asking things of God in the future…
My friend Frank Turek (I’ve met him once, so I’m going to call him my friend)….
Frank was standing 15 feet away from his good friend Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, September 10th when Charlie was assassinated.
Frank said that as they were rushing Charlie to a local hospital…he was fervently praying at the top of his lungs for God to save this man who was bleeding out right there in his arms….
20 minutes later, Frank - and others at the hospital who had been waiting and praying – were informed that Charlie had passed away.
Let’s be real….Something like that can shake our confidence in prayer.
Here were many faithful servants of God fervently praying over their friend…
….Yet the results were the opposite of what anyone wanted.
How – then - can God’s Word say here in verses 14 & 15 that if we ask anything of Him, he hears us, and that He will give us what we ask for?
There are 4 vitally important words in verse 14 that provide the answer to this question: “According to His will”
God is sovereign over all things….and for reasons that only God Himself knows…His plan – His Will - from before the world began was to call Charlie Kirk home at the age of 31.
We don’t know why.
We don’t know why God sometimes intervenes in response to our prayers of intercession for others…and life is preserved…
…and at other times, He responds to our prayers with the opposite result of what we were hoping for.
Isaiah 55:8-9 say: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways.”
For reasons only known to God, the ‘Higher way’…the ‘Higher purpose’ on Wednesday the 10th was to call Charlie home.
This certainly doesn’t negate the free will that the assassin had in carrying out his evil plan of destruction…
….as much as it doesn’t negate the free will that Judas had in choosing to betray Jesus….
This killer will face the consequences of his actions here on earth, and – unless he should repent and give his life to Christ – he’ll also face the horrific eternal consequences of a life lived in willful rejection of the savior, Jesus Christ….
Prayer is powerful…God hears our prayers….and He does respond to them.
But for our prayers to be effectual, they must be prayed in accordance to His perfect and divine will.
This is why we can sometimes be tempted to sluff off on our prayer time with God….don’t do it!
Keep praying…pray earnestly…pray fervently…pray – as Paul says – continually.
You will never know on this side of heaven what impact you’ve had for others here on earth….simply by praying for them.
Verses 16 & 17 expound a bit concerning intercessory prayer….and the effectiveness of those prayers…
Admittedly, these verses can be difficult to understand.
Bible scholars seem to be all over the board as to what constitutes a “Sin that leads to death”…as opposed to a “Sin that does not lead to death”
Some will say that certain sins are so heinous that there is simply no way to receive God’s grace and forgiveness once they’ve been committed….
They call these “Mortal” sins…you may have heard of that term.
Then the same people will refer to ‘less-serious’ sins as “Venial Sins”…smaller offenses that won’t necessarily destroy one’s chances at obtaining salvation.
This may sound like a neat & tidy way of explaining verses 16 & 17, but….it’s not biblical.
It contradicts numerous passages of scripture that teach us that ALL sin (Big or Small) is deserving of condemnation…
James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”
In other words, ALL sin – regardless of how the disobedient behavior manifests itself – is worthy of eternal separation from God….spiritual death….
You see, In God’s moral economy, the little white lie you told this morning?...That’s as condemning – In a spiritual sense - as the largest sin you’ve ever committed.
Folks, this is why we all desperately need a savior…..
This is why we all desperately need Jesus…
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin (All Sin) is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
It is only by way of the cross that you will someday be able to stand before a holy and righteous God!....and be declared blameless.
It’s not because you are innocent….it’s because Jesus became guilty in your place.
That’s the beauty of the gospel….that’s why we adore him…and sing praises to him…and love him with all of our being….and live in obedience to him.
….because he willingly paid our penalty.
Scripture clearly teaches that God can – and will - forgive any sin that you have ever committed….…IF – you truly repent and ask for His forgiveness.
….just ask the thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus who – with his last gasps of air - repented of a life of sin….and was welcomed by Jesus into everlasting life.
…Just ask the woman caught in adultery – or the woman at the well.
However, if you keep indulging in the same sin over and over again…if disobedience to God’s moral law is a consistent pattern in your life…
….it reveals a heart that has yet to fully submit to the savior.
As we’ve already seen earlier in 1 John, habitual sin demonstrates an unrepentant heart.
Personally, I think the best way to view these statements concerning sins that lead (or don’t lead) to death in verses 16&17….is to look at them through what I like to call the lens of ‘Ananias and Sapphira.’
If you recall in Acts chapter 5, a married couple named Ananias and Sapphira lie to the church about proceeds from the sale of a certain piece of property.
Because of this, God decides to illustrate the gravity of their sin by striking them each down in the presence of the church.
We also see a similar form of extreme chastisement within the early church when Paul – referring to sin committed in the presence of the Lord’s Table - says in 1 Corinthians 11:30, “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”
…to have ‘fallen asleep’ was another way of saying they have died.
In the early church, at least, God would – at times – use physical sickness…and even death…to illustrate the seriousness of sin….and to drive people to the savior.
If we look at verses 16&17 through this lens…it begins to make sense how futile our prayers would be in a situation where God is purposefully using physical infirmities…or even death…as a deterrent for sinful behavior.
This brings us to another area in which the believer may be confident… confident in our victory over sin.
Verse 18 (1 John 5:18) says, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin…”
As we have already seen from earlier in this letter, those who are in Christ will live in consistent obedience to His commands.
1 John 3:6 says, “No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning”
And a bit later in verse 9, John says again, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin.”
The key is consistent victory over sin – not complete, sinlessness (1 John 1:8) – but consistent victory.
This is the fruit-producing hallmark of a genuine child of God.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to reshape our desires and transform our minds – we begin to experience victory over sin on a regular basis.
Finally, we have confidence that we belong to God.
Verse 19 (1 John 5:19) states, “We know that we are children of God; and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one”
We are different from the world – because the world and its ways are under the control of Satan and his legion of demonic agents.
You are either a child of God – or you are a child of the Devil….there is no third alternative.
Jesus says in Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me….”
Over the past few years, have you noticed the 2 very different reactions from people following a controversial - or high-profile - loss of life?
The world’s reaction is to damage, destroy, to blow things us, to deface, to retaliate with violence…
…whereas the believer’s reaction is to pray…to consult God’s word….to find support and healing amongst other believers….
There is a stark difference in how the people of God respond to tragedy vs how people of the world respond to tragedy.
At no time has there been a greater visual of this truth than within our country over the past 5 years….
If you are a child of God this morning….thank Him for allowing you to have the wisdom to see and understand the difference between His kingdom of light – and Satan’s kingdom of darkness.
John wraps up this letter in verse 21 (1 John 5:21) when he says, “Dear Children, keep yourself from idols”
As the tonic note of this letter fades….John gives us one final admonition…one final command…
John understood that idolatry – holding something other than God as a priority in our lives – will always be man’s most challenging endeavor.
He knew that in all times – and in all places – the love of money, materialism, power, reputation, comfort, pleasure, and frivolous forms of entertainment…
…these will all be used of Satan in the attempt to derail believers from fervently – and consistently - seeking out the savior through the reading of His Word, through prayer, and through fellowship.
This is why we are told in Ephesians chapter 6 to put on the full armor of God… everyday….
…only by doing this are we able to stand our ground against our adversary….
….and – through God’s power – be confident in our faith!
Let’s Pray.