Prayer answered

Prayer answered

Link to last sermon

The apostle bears witness to Jesus.
In addition to the testimony of Jesus’ contemporaries, God Himself bore witness that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah.

Welcoming this testimony
Let it challenge us and we grasp the hand stretched out by God through Christ to be

• reconciled with Him,
• forgiven as a sinner
• and welcomed into the family of God, the Church.

Reject this testimony
Either we say it’s rubbish, we play the skeptics who don’t care about the obvious, but that has consequences.
To reject the obvious facts of God is to make God a liar.
This is shown by the verses we saw last time.

text of the day

1st epistle of John chapter 5, verses 9-21
9 If we receive the testimony of men, let us recognize that the testimony of God is greater because it is the testimony of God, that which he rendered concerning his Son.
10 He who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in himself;
(this is obvious and we sometimes find it difficult to express it)
whoever does not believe God makes him a liar, since he does not believe in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.
11 Now, this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life [and continue to believe in the name of the Son of God].
14 We have this assurance with him: if we ask something in accordance with his will, he will listen to us.
15 And if we know that he listens to us, whatever our request, we know that we have what we have asked of him.

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, let him pray, and God will give life to that brother; I am speaking here of those who commit a sin that does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death, and it is not for this sin that I say to pray.
17 All injustice is a sin, but not all sins lead to death.
18 We know that if someone is born of God, he does not sin. On the contrary, he who is born of God guards himself and the bad does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God and that the whole world is under the power of evil,
20 but we also know that the Son of God came and gave us understanding to know the true God; and we are united with the true God if we are united with his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, beware of idols!

Two attitudes towards the work of God

Throughout these last verses, the apostle speaks to us of two attitudes towards what God does and what He proves through Christ, in the face of sin.

• Either we are for,
• or we are against,
  and this is what the magnificent verses we have just read deal with.

For

Either we believe God for the resolution of sin by Christ which opens to
life, eternal life. In this relationship, Christ listens to our prayers made within the framework of His will and we have the assurance that the answer will come from Him, especially if we see a brother sin so that he returns to the path of life in Christ.
But this situation must be considered as exceptional because, inevitably, being born of God by Christ, the objective is to keep oneself, to preserve oneself from evil.
In this attitude of life, the bad does not touch the believer even if our environment is under the power of evil.
The believer is not under the power of the evil one.

Rejoice, Jesus has opened the mind to truly know the Lord and we can be united with Him through Christ. He Himself is the true God and eternal life.

Against

Either we do not believe God for what He has done to solve sin through Christ which opens to life, eternal life. We then make God a liar, we do not have life, eternal life.
Even the believer’s prayer cannot force the decision for Christ (against the will).
To refuse the outstretched hand of God is an attitude of sin that leads to death (as opposed to life coming from devotion to Christ).
The refusal of Christ leaves us under the power of the evil one and powerless before Him.

Conclusion of the epistle

The last two verses of this epistle are an invitation to take advantage of the light of salvation, of the life of which Christ is the author…

Watch out, idols

and not to be smoked by all kinds of idols such as

• traditions,
• human reasoning (philosophical, political, popular habits),
• my pride,
• my principles,
• my image,
• etc.

All those things that

• we lean,
• we are super careful,
• we expend mad energy
  and which ultimately hide Christ are
• excuses
• or pretexts
  to refuse Christ or arguments that we justify as valid (even if they are in empty reality).

Nothing better in Christ
Let us cling to Christ,

• He is God,
• He is the reconciler, the Messiah,
• He is life and gives us life.

Let’s be consistent in our life as redeemed by Christ.

Christlike attitude.
1st epistle of John chapter 5, verse 12
He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Life begins with Christ.

1st Epistle of John chapter 5, verse 13
I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life
[and continue to believe in the name of the Son of God] .
Through the Bible, God gives us the opportunity to believe in Christ, and through Him to be certain of eternal life.

1st epistle of John chapter 5, verse 14
We have with him this assurance: if we ask something in accordance with his will, he listens to us.
When we are in tune with Christ, He hears our prayers

1st epistle of John chapter 5, verse 15
And if we know that he listens to us, whatever our request, we know that we have what we have asked of him.
The answer comes from Him. Let us pray with faith seeing the answer already there.

1st epistle of John chapter 5, verse 16 a
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, let him pray, and God will give life to that brother;
Stop the indifference, if a brother sins, if he slips into deadly habits, let us pray to Christ that he will return to the path of Life.

1st epistle of John chapter 5, verses 16 b – 17
I speak here of those who commit a sin that does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death, and it is not for this sin that I say to pray.
17 All injustice is a sin, but not all sins lead to death.
What is definitely mortal is to refuse life through Christ, nothing worse than sin;

1st epistle of John chapter 5, verse 18
18 We know that if anyone is born of God, he does not sin. On the contrary, he who is born of God keeps himself and the bad does not touch him.
The best guarantee against the devil is to be a child of God through Christ.
The believer’s best guarantee against the devil is to flee from sin to resemble Christ.

1st epistle of John chapter 5, verses 19 & 20
19 We know that we are of God and that the whole world is under the power of evil,
20 but we also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding to know the true God; and we are united with the true God if we are united with his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Our whole environment prevents us from understanding God because he is under the inspiration of the evil one. Fortunately, Jesus gave us the ability to understand God.

“There is no comparison” between everything on which we could

• lean,
• invest,
• trust,
• put all our energy
  and God, Christ from whom comes life forever.

Let’s not fall into the trap!