Gracious and merciful God, we thank you that you have given us this word that we might hear. Yet Lord, as we have seen time and time again, that without new birth, Without the working of the Spirit, these words would only fall upon dumb ears. And so open our ears. Help us to hear. Help us to see where you have called us to be certain in this life that we may know that we have eternal life. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Beloved people of God, a very common word in the recent months and really in this year has that word, has been that word uncertainty. We hear it in commercials that this day and age is filled with uncertainty. We hear it in even our political parties' commercials as well, that we are in a day of uncertainty. Uncertainty describes our world and the life that we live in. In fact, it has become a common maxim to say that there are only two things that are certain in life, that is death and taxes. And this really has translated into knowledge, into history, and into even faith. Starting with that modern approach, as some would call it, we are called to question everything, approach everything with a healthy dose of skepticism. In fact, in our post-modern world, you would probably say that doubt is considered a virtue. Nothing, nothing at all should be held certain and true except for the fact that there is no truth. Yet the book of John doesn't really cohere well with that, does it? Because John has been telling us time and time again that we can know. We can be certain. And there are other things than death and taxes that we should be certain about. And even though those who do not hold on to truth often consider those who know as prideful, John tells us, as the church, we know. We know. And so, John, has been telling us time and time again, and even as he closes this letter, he tells them that we can know that we are saved. And this is not some sort of presumption. This is not some sort of false hope. But assurance is something that is, even as our confessions say, the duty of everyone to be diligent in making certain that God has called and chosen him. And John really reiterates this theme as he closes his letter here, saying in verse 13, these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. And so this brings John to emphasize all these themes that he has been repeating time and time again, showing us what we can be certain about, the things we can know, the knowledge and the certainty and the joy that we can have concerning eternal life, including those prayers. that those born of God can overcome sin, and that we know that we belong to God, and that we can know that God in the Son of God who has come into this world. And so in John closing out his letter, he is giving confidence and certainty to his readers. He is showing them that they can be certain. And we can see Three things that we can be certain about. First of all, there is that certainty in our prayers. And second of all, there is that certainty that we are children of God. And thirdly, he calls us to maintain that certainty by keeping ourselves from idols. And John begins this section by looking at that certainty about prayers. He returns to that subject that he hit earlier in chapter 3, verse 21 through 22. He said there, And so he reiterates and makes clear that we can be confident in our prayers. that we can be confident that God hears us in our prayers. And this isn't that we bend God's will to ours, that we ask of our sinful desires, but instead that our will becomes so conformed to God's will that they are in line, and that when we pray, we are praying, thy will be done. Thy will be done. And so our wills are aligned with God. But John also points out then that means that our prayers aren't going to be self-centered. They're not going to be focused only on our needs, but also that our love for one another is going to be even expressed in our prayers. And so he goes on to talk in v. 16. 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 sin not leading to death. In other words, he's pointing out that we are a corporate body. We are a people of God. When we see others committing sin, when we see others offending the righteousness of God, we ought to bring them in prayer before God, that we ought to ask God for that life to be given to them, that they might change, that they may know God's grace, and that they may repent and believe, that they may turn away from those sinful things. And it's a bit confusing because on the one hand he calls him brother, a term that he's been using all along for the church and those in the church. Yet he's also talking about that they will have eternal life. Shouldn't they already have eternal life? Well, in the church and as we've seen before in places like Peter, life is not only something that we have now, but it is also something that comes in the end. Eternal life, eternal salvation is something that we get in its fullness at the consummation, at the final days of Christ when he comes again and gives us our resurrected life, an eternal life. And so John wants to say, Our prayers aren't going to be self-focused. Our prayers are going to also see the needs of others, see even the sins of others, and pray for them. But there are a couple things that we want to note here. First of all, that these are sins which a person can see. We are limited, people of God. We cannot see the heart. And we need to be careful to judge people's hearts, that we are judging people's hearts. We cannot place sinful motives behind actions that we see other people doing. We need to pray for those things which we see are wrong. The other part is that the Bible also calls us to humble ourselves, even when we notice other people's sins. In 1 Corinthians it says, therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And Jesus even says that we need to remove that log from our own eye before trying to remove the speck of our neighbors. If we see others sin, we need to be humble about it. We need to recognize that they are, that we can too fall into these sins. We must not be proud about it. Yet these warnings are not to stop us from praying for one another. It is our responsibility, is what John is saying here. It's our responsibility to be praying for one another, helping one another. We are a corporate body. So I encourage you, we have a directory. Pray through that directory. Pray for one another by name. Next week we are going to see a baptism in which we all confess as well. that we will be praying for this child and that we will support and help the parents in raising this child. So let us keep in prayer for one another. But John is not only saying that we need to pray for one another, but we need to know that he will answer our prayers. to know that He will hear them. However, John goes on and qualifies this prayer. Again, it's a bit of a difficult thing, but he says in verse 16, there is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should make a request for this. So what is this sin that is leading to death? How are we supposed to understand it? Should we take it like the Catholic Church and distinguish between venial and mortal sins? Should we understand it as intentional versus unintentional? As if, you know, Christians never sin intentional sins. Well, if we look at it in context, we remember from last week that John has just finished talking about the witnesses from God. And that the one who persistently rejects God's witness concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will not have life. That the one who does not receive the teachings about Jesus Christ that God himself has testified to in the water, and the blood, and the spirit, have denied salvation. Now, of course, this is a hard line to draw on how we ought to really understand this, because on the one hand, Peter denied Jesus Christ. Three times. Yet Jesus prayed for him saying, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed that your faith may not fail. And you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. And so it's not just a mere denial of Jesus. But it is a rejection. A lack of faith. No person that does not believe in Jesus Christ will be forgiven and have eternal life. We cannot pray for those to have their unbelief, their rejection of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior forgiven. And so many will tie this to the unforgivable sin. That blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And John is also talking about those who have been in the church. Who have walked away from the truth. Who have rejected it with a complete knowledge and understanding of what the teachings of the apostles and the prophets were. Yet they've walked away. They've rejected it. They do not heed John in his teachings. So John doesn't want us to pray for that. And so in a transitioning statement then, he says all unrighteousness is sin. That there is a sin not leading to death, this sort of unrighteousness. But there is also this sin that leads to death, a complete and utter rejection of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. There is only one way to God. And Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. But John goes on saying that we can have certainty that we are God's children. So not only can we have certainty about our prayers, but we can also have certainty concerning God's children. And so in verses 18 through 20, he gives three more we know statements. He says it time and time again, three more times that we know this is true. These statements are intended to remind us of our relationship to God, that we are God's children. Those who know that they have eternal life are born of God. and they do not sin. He says in verse 18, that we know that no one born of God sins. Now, of course, when we look at this, we're gonna have to say and remember that even just before this, that there is that sin that doesn't lead unto death, that there is unrighteousness that doesn't lead unto death. So John isn't talking about a perfection here. But it is the fact that we, as those who have been born of God, who have received Jesus Christ, will overcome sin. That there is victory, as we've talked about in the past. And further than that, that John tells us that those who are born, that the one who is born of God keeps him. That Jesus Christ keeps him. Just as he says in the Gospel of John that no one can snatch them out of their hand. Just think about all the things that John has said in this letter about how Jesus has protected us from sin and from the evil one. In 1 verse 2, it says that He brought eternal life. In 1 verse 7, He says He cleanses sin. In 2 verse 1, He says He intercedes with the Father. He is our advocate. He is our helper. In 2 verse 2, He atones for our sins. In 3 verse 8, he destroys the works of the evil one. In 3 verse 16, he demonstrates God's love for us. If God is for us, who can be against us? So when we see the powers of sin losing their hold on us and passing away, we can know that we are born of God. and that we are not under the power of the evil one, that we belong to him, as he says in verse 19, that we know that we are of God and that the whole world lies under the power, or the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. But the fourth and final we know statement that he says is that Jesus has come. Jesus has come that our minds might be enlightened. That we might come to understand and know the true God as he says in verse 20. That Christ reveals us to God and that we are reconciled to Him in Jesus Christ. And so this morning, as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, it is a reminder about how we can know that we are reconciled unto God, that we know Him, that we know His salvation, that we receive that bread and the wine by faith, and we know we are in Christ and with the Father. And so, this world, All it can offer as certainties is death and taxes. But John assures us that we can know that we belong to God, that he hears our prayers, that we are victorious over evil, and he will protect us from the evil one, that we belong to him. and have eternal life. So what does this mean now for us? These are all great assurances that we have. But as we come to our third and final point, Scripture shows us that we have to maintain these certainties. And it doesn't allow us for complacency or license to sin. And so John adds, little children, guard yourselves from idols. One of the greatest threats to the assurance of believers is our idolatry. Calvin says that our hearts, by nature, are a factory of idols. And so sin really is a worship disorder. Sin takes which is of this earth and places it above God. It could be a family. It could be friends. It could be drugs, alcohol. Any sort of lust of the flesh, as he said earlier. The pride of life. And we ought not expect our assurance to be there when we follow the ways of the world, when we worship idols. And so the Westminster Confession says, true believers may have the assurance of their salvation shaken, diminished, or temporarily lost in various ways. as by negligence in preserving it, by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the spirit by some sudden or violent temptation. If you do not have this assurance of faith, John is calling us specifically, if we do not have this assurance of faith because of sin, because of our idolatry, because of our love for things of this world, that we need to know His forgiveness and walk in His ways. And so even though John's final command may seem a little bit strange since he hasn't talked about idolatry at all, He is calling us, in this final phrase, to maintain our certainty, to diligently persevere it, or preserve it, by keeping away from idols. Because following that first commandment to love God above all, to worship Him alone, is the foundation for all others. That if you break even any of the Ten Commandments, you have also broken that first one. And so beloved people of God, in conclusion, we have certainty in this life. John assures that those who believe in the name of Jesus have eternal life. They are born of God. They know the Father. And so now as we approach the table, know that Jesus came to give us the knowledge of God, that we are reconciled to him through his atoning death, and he is in us, and we are in him, and therefore we need to maintain that assurance by keeping ourselves from idols. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious God and mighty Father, we thank you for your many blessings, especially the table in which you have called us to celebrate. You have called us to take, eat, remember and believe. And so, Lord, we ask that as we eat and drink, that we may do so by faith, that we may be assured of our salvation, that we are reconciled unto God through Jesus Christ, and that we may know You and know our salvation through Him. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Notice now.