1-3 John - 1st John 5:13-15 Confidence and Certainties of Believers 1

We have a series of lessons over the next three weeks that are entitled, Confidence and Certainties of the Believers. This is part one. And part two and part three will be taught, I think, by two different people. Jim, are you on next week? And I think Roger has the third one. Here, I think so. Anyway, hopefully the thematic will be maintained through these various types of presentations you're going to get today. All right, so we're in verses 13 through 15. And I think probably to set the stage for this, let's go back to verse 9.

And if someone could read the text. Jim, you got it up? Not just quite yet, sorry. If we receive the witness of men, the witness... I'm sorry? Does everybody have it? Did you say the first John? First John, yes. I just thought we'd let people get it up.

Oh, you're too speedy. Oh, I'm too speedy, I see. It's always been my opinion when somebody from the front of the sanctuary or the pulpit says, turn your Bibles to X, Y, and Z, that ultimately a pause is needed so we can turn our Bibles to X, Y, and Z. And you rush the event. No, I was just ready. She's just faster than the rest of us. Margaret, why don't you read the passage? We're having fun here, this is... Please, read the passage. 5, 13, through... No, we're going to read 9 through 15 is what we're going to do. I'm sorry. 9 through 15. Are we all on the same page here?

If we receive the witness of men, 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 heareth us, Whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him. Thank you. All right, verse 13.

These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. Question number one. To which things is John referring? Everything in the epistle? No, things about eternal life and the light and the sun. So you're being more specific. Probably all the things. Don't you think it's also all things, but specifically what preceded in chapter 5? Okay, so we've heard three different opinions. All things, all things in chapter 5 that you might believe in the Son of God. Well, he's recapping in chapter 5. Let's look at the things that John claims he's written about. So we're going to divide the verses up.

Gary, 1 John 1.4. Marilyn, are you ready?

1 John 2.1. Tom? Second John, the epistle of first John, 2, 13 and 14. John 20, that's the gospel, no I'm sorry, first epistle of John, chapter 2, 21 and 26. Lindy, John 20, 31, and Donna, John 21, 24. Now notice the theme here.

Are these the things John has claimed he's written about? So let's see if this fits. Gary. First John 1, 4, these things we write, so that our joy may be complete. Oh, good place to start, huh? Our joy being complete. Okay. Merrill? My dear children, I write this to you that you will not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. The righteous, that's the end of the verse. Okay, good. So that again, great comfort that we have that when we sin, we confess and we move on.

Tom, 1 John 2, 13 and 14. children because you have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked. Okay, so he's written kind of the three tiers, if you will, of believers in terms of their age and their maturity in the Lord.

First, I'll note, first down to 21, 26. Jane, you got that? Yes. But he spoke of the temple of his body. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. And know that no lie is of the truth. I write this to you about those who would deceive you.

Okay, and the gospel, Joan, 2031, Lindy? 2031. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name. And finally, 21, 24, Dawn? This is the disciple which testifies that these testimony is true.

Okay, so the reason I kind of went down that rabbit trail a little bit is, I mean, John's written about a lot of things, and here he's writing again. I mean, the theme is the consistent one. I think it's all of what he's written. I mean, we can narrow it down to 1 John 5 and the verses that immediately precede it, but I think it's all of the above. John's got a message here. It's all consistent in that it's all focused on the Lord Jesus Christ and growing people in grace and truth, right?

Okay, so we don't need to be any more specific here than that. Now, who believed in the name of the Son of God is not in many translations. So we've got to kind of, just like Roger dealt with a couple of weeks ago, some things have been moved into the scripture and carried forward. This doesn't probably belong there. It was used to potentially enhance the understanding of the verse, but we don't need it, but it's there. So I'm going to go down a second rabbit trail.

Nevertheless, what does believing in his name mean to you? What's a name? Who you are. Okay, good. When he's off in the right direction, name is a person, a name of a person or a thing, a name, just nomenclature. But in Scripture and in the Greek, there's a lot more to a name, and I think that that's probably the interpretation of what the name is. Keep in mind, we've got the name down here at the end of the verse, too. So, name is in the verse. So, name can imply all of the following. It can imply someone's character, Their rank, their majesty, their power, their excellence is perhaps measured by whatever system you want to measure it by.

And for instance, it's everything that's part of a person or the thing. Yeah, Tom. Including his absolute credibility. This could take a negative or a positive context, depending on what setting it's put in. But nevertheless, believing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ isn't just Jesus Christ, the God-man who lived. It's everything about him. So it's all-encompassing. Okay? All right.

So I don't think we're going to take time to look at these, but these all relate to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so you can look at those verses later on if you want, but these all call Christ by his name, implying all of the above. So this is more than simply the God-man identified on the earth as a prophet or a teacher, but in fact, everything about Christ and who he is. Alright, that you may know.

Perfect, active, subjunctive. I guess some of us are going to be schooled further in the Greek language after the church service, right Jeff? Okay, so we're going to be schooled a little bit more. Perfect tense? Perfect? What's perfect tense? Completed in the past, but with continuing results. Okay, active means who's responsible? You are.

Okay, and subjunctive gives some certainty to it, or more qualified? It's a statement of uncertainty. Yeah, subjunctive versus indicative. Indicative, factual. Subjunctive, perhaps. It might occur, it might not. So we're saying here that you may know.

You know, the fact that it's perfect, it's perhaps established in the fact that you should know everything about the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The active is our responsibility to know and subjunctive is we may or may not know, depending on whether we in fact respond to this calling. What kind of knowledge about eternal life is this? It says that we might know we have eternal life. Well, the term know, you know, the Greek has several different terms for know. Which one is this here?

Is this Gnosis or Epic Gnosis? It's Aedo, which is head knowledge to understand and perceive. This is kind of, even though it's subjunctive that we may or may not know, the knowledge is head knowledge. Aedo means of any fact, we know the fact, We know the force and meaning of something which has definite meaning or to know how to do something or to be skilled in a task. So this is experiential. It's head knowledge. There's nothing spiritual about it.

So this knowing is knowing the facts of who we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it can be more gnosis or even epignosis if it's extended, but in the Greek, This is kind of knowing the facts that we may know them, if in fact we decide to be presently active in that process. And how do we create that factual knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? By studying him. Focusing on him and knowing the Word.

Okay, so it's an act of faith, is it not? The act of faith is believing what God has revealed. Sorry, Jim. Anyway, so that's how this whole process takes place. And that you may believe in the name of the Son of God, present active subjunctive, same verb tense. And I bring to the class's attention, doesn't this statement point to the fact just coming to saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ may not be sufficient? but that by faith we need to continue to grow in His infinite grace. Question.

Knowing you're saved is simply eternal life, right? It doesn't change your position, but it certainly changes how much you grow. If you don't know anymore, it doesn't change your position that you're going to have eternal life, but it certainly affects your growth here in your knowledge. It's kind of like you have a toolbox, but you don't reach for any of the tools if you don't put it to work. Right, Tom.

Let's go back and look at verse 12 a second, because in verse 12 it says, He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Is that simply being saved and knowing we're going to be with the Lord forever? I don't think so. I mean, the knowledge of the life is how it exists in each and every one of us today. It's experience. Of course, the experience... The knowing is an experience in the Greek. That you may know. But the know here is a factual knowledge. And the factual knowledge is not only that my sins have been forgiven.

But it's always cases where you know the facts, but you haven't really applied them to yourself. And you say, my gosh, I am a son of God, you know, leaving his word from the truth. Who cannot lie? I don't think John intended that simply we have a head knowledge, but the Word says a lot about who we are in Christ, and I think what he's saying is it's not just knowing that, it's the life that is of the Son that is ours to know also. But knowing it is not experiencing it.

We hope that it ultimately is experiencing it. But this is knowing the truth and the facts of who we are in Christ. And so he who hath the Son of God hath life, and that life is manifested in itself today, right? It's not only sin's being forgiven and being with him eternally, but in fact it's day in, day out. And it's all based on the knowledge of him.

In fact, on Friday night, Donna was there and Margaret. Let's turn to 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 8. We spent a lot of time on this on Friday night. And this really, I think, is a nice passage to kind of reflect on this a little bit further in terms of what this might mean. So Donna, could you read that for us, please?

Sure. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, to the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness. and to godliness, brotherly love, and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks.

Great passage, isn't it? Kind of relates to what this knowledge of Him ultimately yields to in terms of the life itself. Alright, but again, these are truths. I mean, these are truths about the Lord Jesus Christ and who we are in Him. Now it's a matter by faith that we respond to that. Then that's an experience. Right? Yeah, Dawn? Well, you know, Mike's always talking about, from a salesman viewpoint, I think John's selling the benefit.

There's a huge benefit if you have that knowledge and you believe it, there's a huge benefit. Rest, peace, understanding who you are in Christ, there's a huge benefit there for the believer. It begins with rest and peace, doesn't it? And do we believe it or do we not believe it? All right, good. Well, we could spend a lot of time on the knowledge of Christ.

These verses, of course, have a bit more of a challenge ahead, but it's going to be fun going forward. So, verse 14. Now, this is the confidence. Remember, the title of the lessons for this week and the next two are Confidence and Certainties of the Believer. So, these are factual truths of who we are. Again, verse 14 now. This is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And verse 15 is going to build on this, so let's see where this takes us.

Confidence is really a boldness, but I love one of the translations in the Greek is cheerful courage. Isn't that interesting? Cheerful courage? It almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? And assurance. So this boldness or confidence is one, not of cockiness, but in a sense it gives us every right to go to Abba Father, adopted sons, and we go with the confidence that he hears our prayers. Prayer is not used in the verse, but it implies any communication we would have with the Lord. Notice to whom our confidence is directed.

It's to him. We're not looking at earthly systems here. We're looking at the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And reflect on his name, what we just discussed about his name before. We're talking about all of the above. We're not talking just the name Jesus Christ. We're talking about all that's part of His majesty and His power and His ultimate capability of overseeing everything that relates to earth and heavenly places. And this may be based on our faith, the believer's faith, on His return.

Let's look at 1 John 2.28. Craig, could you do that one? Jess, could you do 4.17? So these are both in 1 John.

To keep in mind now, this concept of asking anything and knowing he's going to hear us related perhaps to the fact that they were counting on his return and this would be something that would be even in the very near future. Go ahead. Now little children abide in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him and shame at his coming. 417, why this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment? Because he is, so also are we in this world.

That doesn't have to relate to that, but I think the idea that confidence has been used twice by John in the epistle, and both of them relate to kind of when he comes again, or perhaps when they meet him in the air or even after death. And his presence in their presence in eternal places may in fact be to some extent the foundation of this verse. I don't think you have to restrict it to that, but the term confidence again is used twice by John in this context. We have confidence, present active indicative, and now it's not we, you know, it's possible, but it says we have. in a confidence, it's factual.

We know he hears us. So this is not dependent. It's dependent on us to take it to him now, but his hearing us is factual. There's no question about this. And it says according to his will. We take these things according to his will. Now we're going to get into some discussion. This is fun.

Whatever is consistent with who we are in Christ, I think, is his will. I mean, his will is placing us eternally in the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we ask according to his will, we have to ask according to who we are in Christ, not who we are in Adam. And the question then is, and what is God's will for each and every one of his children? Well, you can talk about this all evening, all weekend, all week, all month, whatever, but I'm pretty reductionist in my mindset. And I like to think that we can define God's will and here's the hopefully spirit led attempts to do that.

Romans 8, 28 and 29, I think, help us here. And we know that all things work together. Don't you get tired of hearing that? I guess I never do, but we use it a lot, don't we? All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So what is his will? for us to be called according to His purpose, and that purpose relates to who we are in Christ, to be conformed to the image of His Son. Simplistic, but true. This isn't a red Shev versus a white Ford. We're talking now about heavenly things positioned in Christ. His will is to conform us to the image of His Son.

Secondly, a couple of verses out of Ephesians. having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. So his will is in fact to look at us as adopted sons and ultimately that brings pleasure as he sees that will ultimately played out in us by our faith. And another verse from Ephesians 1, in him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined, again his will, according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. So if His will is to conform us and His will for us begins in our position, then it all relates to who we are in Christ.

So everybody okay with this? So is His will for some people to be teachers and others mothers in the home or others engineers or architects It's all consistent with His will as long as we're in the process of being conformed in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. These earthly choices, it doesn't mean they're not important. It doesn't mean that we don't consider them and we weigh one thing versus the other.

What's God's will for us? God's will is to conform us to the image of His Son, no matter where He has us. I mean, isn't that true? Do we want to refine God's will for our life to saying we have to be at a certain place at a certain time with certain people?

We're robots then, trying to figure out why we're being tugged and pulled in one direction versus the other. Now, his will is not to sin. But remember, according to his will, it's our position in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that takes the pressure off. Doesn't that take the pressure off what God's will is for us?

Any thoughts about this before we go on? Okay, it's going to get tougher. This is the easier part of this verse. Okay, looking ahead. And now back to the promise. What's the promise? The promise is kind of related to He hears us, right? So it says in the verse, and this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Now, if it's not according to his will, does he not hear us? We can't make that conclusion. But he says if we ask it according to his will, he does hear us. John 15, 7, just to remind us all, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done unto you.

Pretty good deal. All right. Now, what's the alternative? Well, the alternative is stated several places in Scripture. James 4, 3, you ask and do not receive. Because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your own good pleasures. I put good in there. Okay, so there's a problem here, right? When we ask for our own selfish reasons and purpose, we may not like the answer.

But James tells us it's because we ask for our own pleasures and not to be molded according to his will. James has another statement, but let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Another alternative.

And then thirdly, Hebrews 10.35, therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great rewards. So if we ask in the absence of confidence, we're in a position also maybe to be disappointed by the answers.

All right, set the stage for what asking in his will is versus asking alternatively. Now, I'm not about to look at Craig's asking the Lord for something and decide whether it's in his will or not. I mean, the point is that the Spirit works in each one of us to be consistent with the theme of according to his will. And we're not here to measure this in one another. I mean, maybe it is, you know, in a family or a spousal relationship, you'd bounce things off your spouse and kind of discuss it with him or her and kind of get a sense for what their view is. I mean, the Lord, I think, works through the body. But here we're talking about the individual communication with the Lord through the power of the Spirit to know whether the request is according to his will. All right.

Three very, excuse me, Three very important questions, and here's the point of discussion. Question number one, how do we know if what we ask is according to his will? Question number one. Question number two, what does it mean that he hears us? And question number, and by the way, just a little bit of a side bullet here, here is to attend to and consider what has been said. It can mean hearing, like you're hearing me right now, but hearing implies understanding, and I think that's in context what the Greek verb means. And the third present active indicative, by the way, again, factual, he hears us.

And the third question is, how do we know our prayers have been answered? Okay, time out for discussion. Question number one, how do we know if what we're asking is according to His will? Be spontaneous. This is an open dialogue here. Well, how do we know we're abiding in Him? I think you have to judge everything against the Word of God. Okay, so how do we do that? Be in the Word of God. Is that a checklist? Okay, so how do we understand what that is then? Everything according to the Word of God?

I think all of us see Him working in our lives and we know by the experience through basically trials and tribulations that He has answered. I understood part of that, Jack. How did we get into trials and tribulations? Well, it basically brought us down to the trials and tribulations that we go through in life.

And your prayers to him about those circumstances isn't necessarily to feel sorry for yourself, but to praise him for what he's doing. in a sense I think you've answered partly the question is how do we know that what we're asking is according to his will and what you're indicating is a circumstance of trials and tribulations knowing that he's allowing these to take place but other thoughts Gary yeah Okay, so how would the spirit communicate that? I think just by things that are related to the word of God, he communicates. Okay, what's the spirits main purpose? to comfort us and to convict us? Well, that's all part of what he does, but what's his mission? To reveal the Lord Jesus Christ within us. Okay, so we're back to kind of the knowledge of God, so when we know the knowledge of God factually, we know whether our parts are consistent with who he is and where he has us.

Donna? Is it too simplistic to not even worry about that? That you bring everything before the Lord, understanding that you're totally inept without Him anyway, and totally dependent on Him, and He will work through, He will conform our prayers to His will over time. I mean, it seems like a lot of times you're always looking back at what the Lord has done. I find in the midst of things I'm not always so clear on what's happening. All right. By the way, I don't have the answers here. I'm just raising these questions that I think are really important for us to think about.

So Donna says we ask everything we want. And by the way, then we move on to the second question. So if we ask something stupid that's very self-centered, It says here, it doesn't say he doesn't hear us. He says when we ask it according to his will, he hears us. But Jim, what if we ask and it's not according to his will? He just, I mean, the Lord just says, good, that's not who you are. I'm not going to pay attention to that, right?

We have the verse in the Turner Coleridge set about how the Spirit actually corrects the prayers. or our own prayers, so that even in our immaturity, we have that person of God functioning in our life that's correcting, which is good. Does someone know that verse? No, I don't think I know that verse, too. Let me find out which one that is. Yeah, I'm not placing that verse myself. I'll get it for you.

But it's not only our immaturity, but I think in our prayers, we don't know what's going to happen. So we may be praying incorrectly. We just don't know. But there's no formula in the Word of God how to pray, is there? I mean, it says, ask what you will.

Is it Romans 8.26?

Are those utterances there? I thought that's utterances, no? But mine says, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. but the Spirit itself made the intercession of Jesus. Is that your verse, Jim? I believe that's the word.

In James, I was just thinking how when he's talking about how we'll go through trials and tribulations and perseverance and such, it talks about we should ask for wisdom and know that he'll provide it for us if we ask in faith and without doubting and to be assured of that. Yeah, okay.

And this wisdom takes on what form in us? When we ask for wisdom, what are we expecting? Experience. Certain experiences are going to happen to spark your interest in focusing on the Lord Jesus, what he has for you, what he's going to present, and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

And, you know, this is not guess what I'm thinking, but to some extent it is. I put wisdom in the perspective of being ingrained in citizenship. And so therefore the decisions that we make that follow the wisdom of who we are in Christ positioned above that have eternal consequences, that's wisdom applied to earthly decisions. I mean, but I think it's pretty much what you said in different words. Wisdom is bringing heavenly places to the condition, to modifying the condition ultimately to be consistent with who we are.

Some thoughts on the question, how do we know if what we ask is according to His will? Okay, good. I'm not sure we finished that one. I'm not sure we did either, but some thoughts there defining will. We've got the general will of God, the specific will of God, and then you have the personal movement that you have in life that is not specific in the Scripture either.

When you're becoming acquainted with a person, you learn generally who they are, and what they want, and how they function. And so your beginning dialogue, which is what prayer is, starts out very general, moves to a more specific. And as you talk to that person, it goes from general to specific to very personal. And I think God has revealed himself in the same sense that prayer, hearing, understanding, paying attention, all comes from a general, to a specific, to a personal perspective, but they all contextually are involved with one another. So you can't just be introduced to the Lord and intimately begin praying in his will, because you've got to understand his general person, his general character, who he is, what he's done.

It moves to the more specific will, and then it moves to the personal, and that's where the maturity of being able to do what John is saying begins to take place in a believer's life. And I think we've all seen in our own walk that to the person of God as he's revealed himself, and it becomes more intimate.

And I think that's what John is getting at here, is that this knowledge, this confidence, is something that's personal, and it's understood by the God that gave us that eternal life that he mentions in the previous verse. That's good, Jim. You know, if you think about what you just said and apply it to what Donna read in 2 Peter 1, 3 through 8, this building, if you will, of the faith in each one of us, it's not something we measure, but it's something that relates to the knowledge of Him. Isn't it?

Unless we know the Lord Jesus Christ and increasingly know Him, I think ultimately, praying according to His will is less clearly understood by us. But as we know Him better, that prayer becomes consistently more conformed to what His will is for us. Other thoughts about this? What about God's hearing our prayers? And again, He says it's factual. He hears our prayers if it's according to His will. It doesn't say He doesn't hear them if it's not, but it says He hears them if it is.

So I think if we pray selfishly, He's going to say, well, wake up, Margaret. What's this all about? Anyway, Greg? Well, it comes to mind something we learned in Revelation. It talks about the Lord collects our prayers in golden bowls. And it just shows the value of our prayers. He collects them. That's kind of interesting, yeah. Yeah. It just demonstrates extreme value for or our communication with them.

Okay, if you think the first two questions weren't hard enough, let's go on to the third one. How do we know our prayers have been answered? In a sense, we're moving on to 15, but it relates to where 15 is. So 15 is going to be fairly brief, because this question really relates to the next verse. I was just going to give a clarifying thought so that we can answer it better. Yes and no is an answer. So from that perspective. OK. That seems like an easy answer, for sure. But I think it's true. Sometimes we don't know. In our lifetime, we may not know that our prayers have been answered. That wasn't easy out, by the way.

What if we see that God's will for our life, though, is being conformed to the image of the Son? If that's a reasonably reductionist view of what God's will for our life is, is this not part of those answers to conformance? Well, we ought to know that that's not the final development of the whole process, but at least you see progress. And you can match it with what's in His Word, what the format of Christ's character is, And you find out it matches it curve for curve, color for color, fit by fit, item by item.

I mean, I think perhaps a prayer that we've all made repeatedly or praying for loved ones or friends to get saved, right? I mean, how many times have you seen that prayer unanswered from our perspective, right? What's that all about? That seems perfectly consistent with who we are in Christ to bring others unto the Lord. Have those prayers failed?

His timing is the important thing there. We don't know what his timing is. We're living in the day of grace and all that he does for us is for our benefit. Okay, so back according to his will of conforming us, right? Don't we see that as that prayer for a loved one or a friend really conforming us as we come to him with prayer repeatedly?

And some people even question whether praying for the unsaved is something the body is called to to begin with. I mean, I think that's another discussion. I don't see anything unspiritual about that, praying for the unsaved, but I mean, we're certainly to be witnesses and to be, you know, messengers to the world of the unbelieving to be lights unto darkness. But anyway, it seems like that's a perfectly righteous prayer, to pray for the unsaved, but we all don't see those people come to the Lord before they go home. Go home, wherever. Okay, Craig?

Yeah, I think what you said, I think we know when we're adjusting to what God is doing, basically we're trusting and resting in Him, throughout the whole process, even though it may not be going the way we want it. Typically, as a mature believer, I would pray, and then I would just go solve the problem myself, or go try to save someone, you know what I mean? And try to make it happen, but of course it never would. It's coming into an adjustment, the Lord is doing.

No matter what we see. Yeah. Because I think too, sometimes, you know, we forget we're praying for this unsaved person, our family member, our friend that we love. But it's not about, I mean, it's to conform us. It's not to whatever happens to them. That's their situation with the Lord. It's to conform us.

Back to wisdom and citizenship. I think when we're praying according to His will and the answer may be no, Jim, I mean, we look at that and we say from heavenly places, ultimately, you know, this thing's all been taken care of. And I think, you know, again, what Donna read in 2 Peter 1, 3 through 8, really begins with peace and grace and rest. That's where it starts, this whole knowledge of Him.

Because when we bring an anxious knowledge of Him, learning about Him factually in the power of the flesh, there's no life-exchanging experience there. We come with peace and rest and grace to the throne of grace, in fact, to bring that wisdom into our real-life existence. One thought about that, how that affects your prayer life. And I'm not sure that God designed us to have a prayer life that goes up and down based on whether we see answers to prayer or not answers to prayer.

I think it's a continual rest. And when things go our way, it's no more a joy to us than when things don't go our way because we trust the object of our prayer and His sovereign work in whatever it is that's going on. And so there's a consistent, and I like the term rest because it just has a peace, a peace that surpasses understanding. And I think we're not worrying about yeses and noes, we're worrying about the peace of the person of Christ, just working in whatever it is. That's pretty cool. And Tom, get you just a second, but just to comment on that.

I think, you know, how many of us are praying up? You know, we pray down, don't we? Isn't that where the power of prayer comes from, from the right hand? You know, we're crucified, buried with Christ in baptism unto death, and risen with him in newness of life, and now we seek those things that are above. When we pray down, we've got a heavenly perspective, and that takes the pressure off. And again, back to rest. That's where that prayer comes from. Bambi meets Godzilla. And then you see the list of credits on the end. It always lists the same goofball that concocted this bit of dreck.

And you know, that's me, myself, and I, if I'm facing a situation, I don't take it to the heavenlies and not just place it, dump it in the lap of the Holy Spirit or God, the Father or God, the Son, but actually be there Let them do the producing, the details, and let them make things clear as I go along with other things in my life to where at a suitable time, at the moment of growth that they deem best, they can start giving you answers. And then it's not a monologue about myself trying to do this whole thing that turned out Well, now that we've answered these three questions, any other thoughts here? Okay.

Verse 15, and if we know that he hears us, again, factual, okay? He hears us. If we know, he hears us. We may not know if we're not really believing what the scripture has said. Whatever he hears, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. Petitions, interesting word. Petitions would presumably be requests, right, or inquiries.

And I think we've been over this extensively here over the last five minutes, this atmosphere of rest and patience that needs to surround us when we go to the Lord in prayer. His timetable is a little bit different than ours, and I don't know about you all, but I kind of look what's on my calendar, what's not, and am I ready for the next event on my calendar, right? I mean, it's kind of a rat race at times trying to get everything done ahead of time. But you know, that's not the way we approach the Lord in prayer. And by the way, what we would perceive as unanswered prayers are ultimately maybe no's up front. are really things that over time may in fact be changed substantially, but we're being conformed through that process. Again, timetables are being excluded here in terms of this approaching the Lord in rest and patience.

Philippians 4.6, and if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we've asked of him. So another verse that just documents the fact that God hears and he answers our prayer. Again, and no is the possible answer.

And finally, Mark 11.24, I've just selected a few verses to kind of terminate our lesson today. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them. And you will have them. And of course, the audience in Mark was a little bit different than the audience in Philippians. But the principle of God in terms of prayer remains, doesn't it?

Whether we're before the cross or after the cross. Remember, confidence and certainties of believers. And from today's verses, what confidence and certainty do we have? What do you take away from these three verses in terms of a level of confidence and certainty? Whoever we ask for in His will, we know He's going to hear it. And verse 15. It's answered, isn't it? And we may not understand the answer, the answer may not be in the direction in which we prayed, but there's an answer, Margaret.

But I was going to say, the purpose is to conform us. Yeah, I think so. And so, part of the receiving of whatever those petitions are, is that he's going to be faithful in conforming us, even if the answer is no. The real The real, I guess, growth is that we're being conformed all this time. And how do we measure that confirmation? We talked about that a little bit on Friday night. Remember, Gail said on Friday night, she said, you know, I feel differently about the way I, you know, present things to the Lord than I did 20 or 30 years ago. I mean, she's been through a lot of trials. We all have trials, but I mean, the Smiths have had quite a few. And she says, I feel different. But is that a measure of her maturity? She senses it. But what I want to try to do is make sure we're not measuring how well we're doing.

Christ is a life. And I think if Winnie looks at Jack and says, I see the Lord growing in Jack, I mean, she's perhaps more objective than he is. But this isn't something we You know, think that we merit ourselves by growing in grace, right? I mean, this is a life manifested.

And as God continues to work through us on a day-to-day and week-to-week and month-to-month basis, that growth is his growth pattern as we respond to him by faith. We don't measure it in ourselves, but we can have, I think, as Gail stated, a different sense about who she is now than what she felt about herself 30 years ago. And that's as far as it should go. Do we feel that our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ positioned above in Christ Jesus is different than it was before? That is a kind of subjective assessment that we've grown in grace.

But we're not measuring our performance here. Tom? I was thinking of that closing phrase, amazing grace, through many trials, toils, and snares, I have already come Good. Last note to end our class on. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Father, we're grateful that this morning the scriptures have been opened up a bit and although our understanding of your perfect will is not always certain, particularly in the specifics of our prayers, ultimately the Spirit works in us to make us know that you are in the business of of conforming us to the image of your Son in whom we are placed eternally. And a prayer request not specifically mentioned earlier is again to continue to lift up Roy, again to meet the needs of his sister and also Tom's brother. There is always seeming a job, a situation there for him that ultimately needs to be clarified and we pray to that end as you work in his life to bring about your purpose and will. We close now and thank you for the service to follow in Jesus name we pray. Amen.