And the first one that we want to look at is freedom of speech, freedom of speech. So we're turning to 1 John 5. 1 John 5 over towards the end of the New Testament, you have 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and then Revelation. So you're towards the end of your Bible, 1 John 5, and we're going to read 15 verses from the word of God this morning. 1 John 5 in the verse one. And the word of God says, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. Amen. We'll finish at verse 15. And we know that God will bless this reading of his word to our hearts this morning for his name's sake. Now really, I want to take out those last three verses that we have read there. That's really where our focus is going to be this morning. But just to set the context a little bit, when we come to the letter of 1 John, we certainly find that very often it's used, particularly chapter 1 of 1 John, to illustrate the message of the gospel. And while that is acceptable, it's important for us to remember that when we read this letter written by John, we must think about the fact that it's written to Christians. It's written to believers and it is primarily relevant as a letter of instruction to the New Testament church. It's not addressed to a particular church, like some of the other letters by Paul were written, for example, to the church in Galatia or the church in Ephesus. It's not addressed to a particular individual, so John's not writing as Paul sometimes did to Timothy or to Titus. So therefore what we have here is a letter which is seen as a general epistle, or a letter to the church at large. The primary theme that runs through this letter in 1 John is the importance of maintaining the fundamental truths of the faith, the fundamental principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, the Apostle John had become very concerned by the growing influence of false teaching, particularly the false sect of the Gnosticism. Whenever we did our Bible study in the book of Colossians, we looked at that belief system in some detail. And really what they believed was that there was additional knowledge to be gained over and above that which was revealed to the apostles by the Holy Spirit in terms of the faith. One of their most fundamental teachings was that there was a difference between Jesus and Christ. And that teaching is a heresy. It was a heresy which attacked not only the humanity of Christ, but the power of the atoning work of Christ. So what we understand is that in order for Christ to be the acceptable substitute for us, in order for him to be the sacrifice for our sins, he had to be complete and perfect in his humanity, but he also had to be complete in his deity. And for us, that is the wonderful mystery of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 to 17, the writer there says, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself, that's Christ, took part of the same. that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham, wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. So what we have there in that teaching is that Christ took upon himself humanity in order that he would be like us, yet without sin. In order that he could be our merciful and our faithful high priest. In order that he could be the one who would make reconciliation for our sins. It's a complete opposite of what Gnosticism teaches. But John here in his letter in 1 John, he challenges the false teaching of the Gnostics and as he does that, he writes to deal with the problems of doctrinal errors. And in order to do that, he does it by reaffirming the fundamentals of the faith. Now we need to remember as well that when John wrote this epistle, he was an old man. He was the last remaining apostle who had personally known Christ during his time on earth. So he would have been considered to be someone that you should listen to, as this letter was written. In the church, he would have been almost revered, as it were. In the opening verses of chapter 1, he speaks about his personal experience of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that the apostles, and John was one of them, they heard Christ, they saw him, they considered him, they touched him. What a tremendous testimony to the knowledge of Christ, to be able to say that he was actually there with Christ, that he knew him and he heard him and he saw him. But as we come now to our passage towards the end of John's letter, we're coming to the closing section of the letter. And here we have John reminding the believers, generally speaking, the church of Jesus Christ. So let's take this and apply it to ourselves today. He's reminding them about the eternal life that they have in Christ. And as he does that, he's reinforcing the purpose of the letter. He reinforces and reminds them of the assurance which they have because they're in Christ. As I thought about this over this past couple of days, and I think about the difficult, the challenging days that we're in as people. Days when we're isolated one from another. Days when we cannot meet together. And yet we can have confidence and we can have comfort in the promises of the Word of God. John here reminds those who he was writing to that they could know that they have eternal life. And that's the same for us. We can know with assurance that we're saved, that we have God's salvation, even if everything else in life seems uncertain at present. This world is running around trying to deal with the issues that have arisen out of COVID-19, and we can understand that, but yet the reality is that there's assurance for the Christian that we can know that we have eternal life. It's the old Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, who said, we count it no presumption to say that we're saved. For the word of God has told us so in those places where salvation is promised. the presumption would lie in doubting the Word of God. And that's the point for us as Christians. We have assurance. We can rest in that assurance this morning. And as we think about that assurance that John has spoken about in the opening verses of chapter 5, let's now see where John takes the believer to next. You see, what John does after he's provided that comfort and that assurance and that confidence to the believer, he speaks about something which is very, very important for every Christian. Something which every Christian during this time when we are set apart, as it were, should seek to exercise diligently. You see, John here speaks about prayer. John speaks about the prayer life. And we're drawn aside at this time. And as we are drawn aside, and we have less that we can do, I wonder what it's done for our prayer lives. I wonder what impact this has had. Has our prayer life changed at all? You see, sometimes people can say, I don't have time to pray. I'm too busy. I've this to do, and I've that to do, and I don't have time to be spending all of this time in prayer. Well, let me say to you now, that's not an excuse that can be used at this time. Is Netflix replacing prayer? Is YouTube replacing prayer? Are we letting the things of this world replace prayer when we are drawn aside at this time and we have time to pray? The question is, are we cultivating intimacy with God in the place of prayer? I want us to take time this morning to consider the wonderful blessing of prayer And I want to look at it under two headings that we find here. I want you to see, first of all, that we can have confidence in our prayer life. Look with me at verse 13 and 14. 1 John 5, verse 13 and 14. It says, These things have I written unto you, that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in Him. that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. So there's a confidence that's found because we are in Christ, because we have eternal life. The old apostle here is instructing the Christian, instructing the child of God to come before the Lord in prayer with a great confidence. Scripture reminds us often about the blessings of prayer. It reminds us often about the power of prayer. And it's both interesting for us and instructive to see how confidently the saints of God that we read about in scripture would seek his face in prayer. When we read these accounts in scripture of people who we would perhaps consider to be biblical prayer warriors, does it strike confidence into us that we can approach the same God? Or do we read about these characters, and we'll touch on some of them in a minute or two, but do we read about them? And do we see that type of communion with God through prayer as something that's outside of reach for us? You see, I think sometimes we see ourselves as unable to pray like that. And yet the word of God so often instructs us to come with confidence as we seek the Father's face in prayer. If we ask anything, According to his will he heareth us. But we have the confidence to do that. We as the children of God should be seeking to speak intimately with our heavenly Father. You see, the privilege that we have of coming in prayers is one of the paramount blessings of being in Christ. And John indicates that here. Look at verse 13. He says, if we believe on the name of the Son of God, then we know that we have eternal life. And then he goes on and he applies that. He says this is the confidence that we have in Him. We're in Christ. If we're in Christ, we're the recipients of eternal life. And therefore it is in that great assurance that we can have confidence. You see, our confidence to pray, believing, is grounded very simply in our faith in Jesus Christ. Now when we read that word confidence in verse 14, and this is the confidence that we have in him, it's important for us to understand that in the literal translation from the original Greek language, that word confidence literally means freedom of speech. That's what got my mind thinking about these freedoms. That it means freedom of speech. We have this freedom of speech in him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. There's been a lot of talk in this past few weeks about restrictions. Restrictions on movement, restrictions on contact, restrictions on gatherings, and that's evident by our having to meet in this fashion. But praise the Lord, as a child of God this morning, we have not had our restriction of speech restricted at this time, certainly not when it comes to spiritual matters. We still have that same access. Let's think about how we have freedom of speech in our prayer lives. You see, that's the freedom of speech that's paramount for us. This is biblical freedom of speech. Warren Wearsby, the commentator, writes that Christians can have confidence in prayer. We can come freely to the Father and tell him our needs. That's one of the greatest comforts for the Christian at any time. But at a time like this, A time like this when we cannot meet with others, we still have unrestricted access to meet with the Lord. And I think, sadly, we take this for blessing at times, or this blessing for granted at times. I think, sadly, we forget about the wonder of what we have by the means of prayer. In a society today where people so often don't want to admit their dependence on anyone else, I think that as A church generally, I mean the church generally, I think we've somewhat lost the comfort of prayer to the weary, careworn soul. We have lost sight of what we have by the means of prayer. Too often we can be depending upon our own strengths. Too often we depend upon what we can do and our own abilities. And very often we fail to bring our inability to the Lord. And yet in Christ, we have this freedom where we can come and we can lean upon Him. The writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews 4, I think it is, tells us that we're to come boldly onto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now, when you put that in context in that chapter in Hebrews 4, you'll find that the confidence or freedom to do just that is found in Hebrews 4 in verse 15. where it says, We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like us we are, yet without sin. What does that mean? It means that we have a high priest, a great high priest. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who knows about all of the issues of life, all of the problems, all of the concerns, all of the uncertainty, all of the doubt, all of the fear. He knows about it. And we can come because He is our Great High Priest. We can come with liberty, with confidence in Christ, because He's the one who's opened up that way of access for us when He went to Calvary. We can come boldly because of the work of Christ. Look at chapter 23 and verse 45. It tells us that the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. Now it was rent, it was torn in two from the top to the bottom. Prior to that, no one could go beyond that veil except the high priest once a year. And he could only go in once a year to make the sacrifice. But at the time of the crucifixion, when Christ suffered and died, when he poured out his life's blood, when he took the wrath of God poured upon him for us, that veil in the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. He opened up that way for us. And we now have access to the throne room of heaven. The rending of the veil was described by the writer to the Hebrews as this. He said that it was the opening up of a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil. We have access because of Christ. And we're instructed here by John the apostle to come confidently with liberty through Christ and commune with the Father in prayer. The Bible clearly teaches us that prayer is a practical principle for the Christian. You're a Christian today. It's something that should be practically used by you. We can think about the examples of scripture. Think about Abraham. When Abraham looked upon the city of Sodom and he prayed for that city. And he prayed, do you remember how he persisted in prayer? He said, if there's 50 righteous souls, spare it. If there's 40, if there's 30, if there's 20, if there's 10. And he kept praying. Think about the persistence of Daniel in his prayer life. Think about the example of Jonah, how he was swallowed by the great fish. Do you know what that teaches me? teaches us is that he cried out in the belly of the great fish, we can pray wherever we are. We can pray anywhere. Think of the example of the Lord Jesus Christ as he prayed in the garden. Think about how he taught his disciples how they ought to pray. Think about Hannah when she prayed in the temple for a son and her lips were moving but no words were coming out. She was praying inaudibly, but she was praying. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians chapter six that we ought to be praying always. Maybe you don't feel that whenever you're ever in a prayer meeting that you can pray audibly. Well, pray like Hannah. Pray inaudibly because God knows your heart and God hears the prayers of the heart that are prayed in his will. Do we see here the liberty that we have in prayer? This liberty that we can have, that we can pray at any time, and we can have access, and we have this access simply because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us at the place called Calvary. In 1 Thessalonians 5, in verse 17, we read three words. Sometimes they scare people. It says that we're to pray without ceasing. People think, well, I can't pray 24-7. That's not what it means. That's not what it means at all. What it's speaking about there when you set it in its context is about how we ought to be seeking to be in a transformed state in our minds so that we're walking in the will of God and as we walk in the will of God we will always be in the spirit or attitude of prayer. That we will be seeking to be in that communion with God. I'm going to illustrate that. Jim Elliot martyred in Ecuador in 1956 as he went to share the gospel with the Waodani people, and he was killed there along with four other brothers, seeking to win the loss for Christ. These are words that Jim Elliott wrote. He said, God is still on the throne, and we're on the footstool, and there's only a knee's distance between. That's the access that we have through Christ. Do you see in our present circumstances, When we feel lonely, when we feel fearful, when we're frustrated, when we're discouraged, we can still pray. And in fact, I'll go further than that. It's not a case of we can still pray. It's a case of we must still pray. You're saved this morning and you have doubts and fears. Cry out unto the Lord. Do you know when Peter stepped out of the boat And he was walking on the water as he kept his eyes on the Lord. And he took his eyes off the Lord and he saw all the problems with the wind and the waves. And he began to sink because he began to look at the things of the world, the things that were causing the problem. What did Peter do? Peter cried out three words. He cried out, Lord, save me. Do you know what that was? That was a prayer. And the Lord reached out his hand and save Peter from the wind and the waves. Save Peter from sinking. Peter prayed. That was his instinct whenever he got himself into the right place, or he got himself into the wrong place, then he got his mind into the right place. And he prayed, and he cried out, Lord, save me. We can have confidence in our prayer life, but I want you to see secondly here, we have to have clarity in our prayer life. Come with me to verse 14 and 15 now. We've spoken about the confidence. This is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. So John now has brought the believer to this place where they have confidence. But he takes them now in the next step of their freedom of speech and prayer. Because he builds upon this confidence by teaching that there needs to be clarity in prayer. Pay close attention to the words at the end of verse 14. He says, if we ask anything, there's four little words in here that sometimes people miss out. It says, according to his will. And those words are so important because this is a key aspect of true biblical praying. Some people will take that verse, and those two verses, verse 14 and 15, they'll particularly lift verse 15 out of its context, and they make it into a pretext to apply to whatever they want in life. And they say, we know that He hears us whatsoever we ask. We know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. And they try to say that whatever we pray for, God will give it to us. Whatever we want, God will give it to us. But that's very clearly not what these verses teach when they're set in their context. In that verse 14 when it says, according to his will, that little word will is used by Paul over in Romans chapter 12. Paul says, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And what we're to do as believers, as children of God in essence, is to pray in the will of God for the will of God to be worked out in the life of the child of God. Now you might ask the question, well how can I know the will of God? How can I know God's will? Well to put it simply, I can't make it any more simple than this, God has revealed his will to his people through his word. We've got the Bible. Preacher and commentator John MacArthur writes this, he says, Now what does that mean for us? Well the biblical principle is that the role model for the believer in all things should be the Lord Jesus Christ. We look to Christ and we see the model, the example of how a believer should live. Remember how Luke tells us about the Lord Jesus when he withdrew from the disciples on the Mount of Olives. We read about it in Luke chapter 22. In Luke 22 verse 41 and 42 to paraphrase it, it tells us that he prayed saying, Now that's Christ. And he's communicating with his father. But remember that Christ, while he's in his humanity, he still is the son of God. But he's submitted to the will of God while he's in his humanity. In John 17 and 4, Jesus praying to his father the Lord's Prayer. He says, I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do. And what we see clearly was that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, while he was on this earth, he was wholly submitted to the will of the Father. Wholly submitted. Did the work that the Father gave him to do. Prayed, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. And then John here, writing to believers, says that if we ask anything, ask according to his will. You see, this takes us to this point where some people think that prayer is just a shopping list. Prayer is not a shopping list. True believing prayer is not a shopping list, coming along and asking for whatever it is you want at that particular moment in time. Prayer, true believing prayer, is communion with God for the purpose of worship, for the purpose of fellowship with God, for the purpose of seeking the leading of God upon our lives. He's a missionary by the name of Stanley Jones, and he once said this. He said, if I throw out a boat hook from a boat and catch hold of the shore, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? You see, prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God. Do you get that? Prayer is not pulling God to our will, but the aligning of our will to His will for our lives. Go to Romans 12 and 2 earlier, and that verse reminds us that we're not to conform to the world, but to have transformed minds, to have our minds transformed. And as we do that, by doing that, we will be fitted to prove to know the will of God. You see, conforming to the world will never equip the Christian to know God's will. conforming to the world, will take the Christian out of God's will for their life. Do you really want to know the will of God? As a believer, you have to get into the Word of God. And you get into God's Word with a prayerful attitude, and you'll see there where God has revealed his will for believers, how we ought to live our lives. The principles are all there. Do you remember in the model prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ, Taught us and you'll find it in Matthew chapter 6 and Matthew 6 in verse 10. He taught us how to pray And this is what he said He said this is how you ought to pray and then he said thy will be done at the end of the prayer We know the prayer or the model of prayer our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done and That's how we ought always to pray. That we would pray that we would be in the will of God. Do you know when we come back here to 1 John 5 and verse 15, what does the principle of praying actually teach us? Because in essence what it's saying is that if we are truly seeking to have our prayer life attuned to the will of God, he will answer our prayers according to his will. And that's the place that we want to be. We want to be in the center of the will of God as Christians. That's where we ought to desire to be. And the principle being taught here is that if we pray according to His will, we ought to have the assurance, as it were, that it's already been answered. It says we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. Now that's in the present tense. That's not something that we're looking forward to in the future. One commentator writes it like this, he says, we might not see the answer to a prayer immediately, but we should have the inner confidence that God has and will answer. So as we consider what's going on in life, as we consider the situations that we are facing in life, at any given time, not just in the circumstances that we face now, but at any given time, we think about things that might be concerning us, that might be troubling us. The question for the Christian ought to be, first of all, how do we pray? How do I pray in relation to this? Well, we pray seeking the will of God. We pray asking according to his will. And if we do that, he hears and he answers. Sometimes people get discouraged because they think God hasn't answered prayer. Sometimes people think that God hasn't heard their prayer. Well, John here gives us a reason why that might be the case. Here's the point, if it's not prayed actively seeking the will of God to be done, then God's not obliged to answer. On other occasions, the answer will come if prayer is according to His will, but the timing's not in our hands. Sometimes we say, why's God not answered yet? But the timing's in God's hands. It's not in our hands. This is the practical application of faith. It's the practical application of believing prayer. We must always remember that God's will might not necessarily be our desire. And we need to be seeking that God's will and our will would be united. And it's not a case of God moving. It's a case of us. moving towards the will of God and not towards our own desires. Now this is something that every Christian will struggle with. Because sometimes we think we know better. Sometimes we think we know more. But God's will is always best for the Christian. Sometimes we struggle with waiting for an answer. And that's because of the culture that we live in. We live in a fast food age. That's why people have been struggling so much in these days, I suppose, because we can't just go and get what we want when we want. We can't do what we want when we want. And that's why it's such a challenge to us. We live in an age where everything happens almost immediately. Friends, maybe part of the learning for the Christian in this current time period that we're in, this period when we're drawn aside, Maybe what God wants us to do is to slow down. Maybe he wants us to reflect. Maybe one of the things that we need to learn from everything we're going through at the minute is that we need to build our prayer lives into what they ought to be. You see, we have freedom of speech and prayer. This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. If we have this confidence, we have this freedom of speech that we have by the means of prayer, we ought to be seeking to use it to glorify God. And one way that we will glorify God is by having our lives aligned with his will. Maybe you've been listening in. Maybe you're listening in now and you're still looking for answers. Maybe you're not saved. And you don't know what's going on in this world, and you're looking around and you're seeing all sorts of things happening, and you're fearful, and you're concerned, and you don't understand. I wanna tell you where hope's found. Hope is found in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ. It's found in the work of Jesus Christ. Remember, the Bible tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And everything that's going on in this world at the minute, this is an outworking of the fall. Sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So what's happening in this world now, this virus that's spreading across the world and is causing problems across the world, it is an output of sin, because death comes by sin. But there is a remedy, and that remedy is Jesus Christ. That remedy is the work of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who left heaven and took upon himself humanity. Word of God tells us that God who is rich in mercy for his great love were with, he loved us. Tells us about how God loved us and he sent his son. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Do you know Christ as your savior today? Is Jesus Christ your savior? Are you ready for eternity? Are you ready if death should come to your door? Or will you be separated from God for all of eternity because of your sin? Will you be bound for the place that the Bible calls hell? You don't need to have anything to fear. All you need to do is come and put your trust in Christ. Accept that you're a sinner. Believe that Christ died to save you. Confess your need of him. Come to him. And you'll have hope for eternity. And you'll know God's salvation. Trust that you'll do that. If we can be of any help to you, please get in touch. Please contact us at any time and we'll certainly try and answer any questions you have. But what we can do is point you to the Lord Jesus Christ.