Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for July 27, 2014

“What Do You Know?” 1 John 5:13-17 Bible Study 07/27/14

When your failures and afflictions threaten your assurance of faith, where do you turn for help? John invites you to turn to the Word of God. While the Gospel that bears his name focuses on pointing people to Christ, 1 John offers assurance to those who have placed their trust in Christ. The key term in our text this morning is the term “know.” In verses 13-21 it is used 7 times. 6 of those occurrences emphasize the reality of certain or absolute knowledge.

I. Claim the blessed assurance of eternal life (13)

-these things, shift to first person, purpose clause
-you can and should have it
-it belongs to the believer

II. Claim the blessed assurance of answered prayer (14-17)

-the consequence is confidence
-the condition is the will of God
-the call for intercession
-the “sin unto death”

III. So what?

-Presumption and doubt paralyze. Faith and assurance mobilize.
-If you don’t wear the word you can’t wield the word.
-Assurance: an abiding conviction resting on known facts
-“The child learns to speak because his father speaks to him. He learns the speech of his father. So we learn to speak to God because God has spoken to us and speaks to us. By means of the speech of the Father in heaven, His children learn to speak to Him. Repeating God’s own words after Him, we begin to pray to Him.” (Bonhoeffer)
-“Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing our will upon God, or for bending His will to ours, but the prescribed way of subordinating our will to His. It is by prayer that we seek God’s will, embrace it and align ourselves with it. Every true prayer is a variation of the theme “Your will be done.” (Stott)