Can You Have Confidence in Prayer?

1 John 3:21–23 | Pastor Christopher Powers

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Christopher: 00:00

Confidence in prayer doesn't come from earning God's favor by having strong enough faith or having done enough, bringing the big sack of all that I've done and saying, okay, time for you to answer some prayers. That that's not how the confidence we have comes. We have confidence before him in prayer because we know what I'm praying now is God's will. That's when you have unshakable confidence.

Caleb: 00:25

The following message was recorded at King's Tree Church. May the spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of god in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

Christopher: 00:40

We will be, those of us who remain up here, returning to first John today. We're continuing to work through the third chapter of first John. And if you recall, last week we were looking at how John was calling his readers to have assurance before God. In the face of the heart's accusations, how can we have assurance in the face of our God? And there were two answers that were given and they're indivisible from one another.

Christopher: 01:15

The first one is this, since lived out love, lived out works of love. Because that is a necessary fruit of our belonging to Jesus, we're able to point to those works of love in our life and say, look, there's evidence that I belong to him. There's evidence. There's fruit in my life that's evidence that I am in the vine. That's the first way John says we reassure our hearts when they're condemning us.

Christopher: 01:46

We point to the evidence that the Lord has worked in our life. But then there's a there was a second and deeper assurance underneath my knowledge of what's going on in my life, which, you know, it's it's valuable. I have to do that. But deeper than that knowledge of what I think is going on in my life is God's knowledge of us. God's knowledge of his people.

Christopher: 02:10

The knowledge of God knowing us in Christ that is greater than my knowledge of myself, what I think about myself, and it's greater than my own heart's knowledge of me, what what condemnation my heart bring might bring against me. Deeper than all of those is God knowing us in Christ. So and he declares that knowledge to us through our works of love. My my obedience, your obedience, the works of love in our life are God's own declaration, you're mine. I belong, you belong to me.

Christopher: 02:45

I know you to be one who is in Christ. That's what we looked at last week. This week John's going to take this same idea of confidence, assurance before God, and he's going to press it into the sphere of our prayer life. And so he's not he's not concerned with confidence for confidence sake. He's concerned with how do we have confidence in prayer.

Christopher: 03:11

So last week we looked at how do I have assurance before God. This week now, how does that assurance result in confident prayer before God? Confident prayer before God. Look at with me or just listen to me as I read it. John first John chapter three.

Christopher: 03:30

Gonna look at verses 21 to 23. Here's what John says. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, as we talked about last week, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask we receive or we are receiving from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us.

Christopher: 04:04

So that's the text we're going to look at today. And you might read that and think wait wait a second. Wait a second. Verse 22. Whatever we ask we receive from him.

Christopher: 04:16

Wow. What what is that? Because probably we've all had the experience of asking something and not receiving it. So what do we do with this? Is it is this kind of a name it and claim it theology where I say something, I'm going to get something, God is like a vending machine, and I come to him with the currency of my obedience or the currency of my faith and I put that in and out comes whatever I'm asking for.

Christopher: 04:46

Is that what's going on here? No. No. Decidedly not. That's not what's going on here.

Christopher: 04:52

But we can sometimes feel that way. Even even though we might say, no, that's not true. Sometimes the heart can feel, man, if I were if I had more faith, maybe my child would get better. If I were more obedient, maybe I would have gotten that job. If if I were more serious about this, maybe I would have gotten a yes answer instead of a no answer.

Christopher: 05:17

If I had more money to put in the vending machine of prayer, maybe the thing I wanted would have come out. We can think that way. And a text like this could be leveraged to make us feel that way. If our heart does not condemn us, whatever we ask we're receiving. And so somebody could leverage this verse to say, well, come on.

Christopher: 05:35

Believe more, obey more, you'll get more. But that is not, I hope to show you today, that's not what's going on here. This is not a call to manipulate God by our obedience so that we can name and claim whatever we want. This rather is an invitation into deeper intimacy with God in Christ through the spirit. So that out of that intimacy with him, not only do our prayers grow, our prayers come out of that intimacy, but so too the answers to those prayers come out of that fellowship with him.

Christopher: 06:12

So this is calling us into that and I want to spend time with you looking at that this morning because the the our prayer life, as central as it must be, doesn't get all that much talk often from sermons. Sermons on prayer, sermons on what does it look like, what does it mean. We all know it's there, but how do I do it and why and what do I have confidence and what am I expecting? And so I hope to get into that a little bit with you this morning and we can get into it much further this evening at HomeGroup. But let me pray for us as we begin.

Christopher: 06:47

So father this text today is about prayer and here we come to you praying. We come to you father because of Jesus. We come to you covered in Jesus And I come to you Lord pleading the name of Jesus, his character, his victory, his identity. Father I pray that by grace now because of Christ, my efforts here would be anointed by the spirit and would be made effective in the lives of your people. Lord take the dry kindling of my capacities and in your mercy, let them be set on fire by the presence of the spirit to give light and heat to your people.

Christopher: 07:34

The light and heat of Christ who's the one that we need. And I pray Lord that through these words in ways that I could never imagine you would meet your people precisely where they are today with the rebuke, with the exhortation, with the encouragement, with the comfort, with the answer, with the peace that they are seeking, that they're needing. And Lord that you do all of this in the single name of Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray now. Amen.

Christopher: 08:07

So this passage is about being confident in prayer. But the center of it, the central idea we have to get a little clearer is the idea of confidence itself. So confidence in prayer is the goal, but you could say the central idea is confidence. Down in verse 21, beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And out of that confidence, whatever we ask we receive because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Christopher: 08:37

So confidence is at the center of this passage. And when you hear that, don't think the kind of confidence that like a CEO would have walking into the room confident that everyone's gonna pay attention to him and listen to him because of who he is. Think rather of the confidence of a little daughter who runs up to her father and is confident, here I know that I'm welcome. Here I know that I'm heard. Here I know that I am loved.

Christopher: 09:07

So we're looking not at a CEO confidence. We're looking at a daughter's confidence. A child's confidence in the presence of their father. Where where does this confidence come from? John gives us two places that it comes from here in the text.

Christopher: 09:23

Again, verse 21, beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. That's the first one. Our heart does not condemn us. And whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. So those are the two places of confidence here.

Christopher: 09:41

Our heart is not condemning us and there's obedience in our life. We're gonna look at those one at a time and then we'll dig into this idea of confidence in prayer. But briefly first, what what sources of confidence does John give us here? The first one there is a clear conscience. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence before God.

Christopher: 10:07

So a heart that does not condemn us is a is a way to have confidence before God. A clear conscience. So you've perhaps been here. It is impossible to stand with childlike confidence before God if we're trying to hide something from him. It's impossible to stand and say, Abba, Father, with a with a child's face to the Lord.

Christopher: 10:32

If at the same time I'm saying, but just don't look over here. But just keep don't pay attention to this. You can't. You're gonna have a divided heart. You're gonna say the whole time you'll be saying, I am keeping something from him.

Christopher: 10:45

I'm keeping something back over here. I can't have a childlike confidence if my heart is knocking on the door saying there's something you need to deal with here. There's something that's not been dealt with. And often when our heart is condemning us like that, sometimes it's legitimate. Sometimes like we saw last week, it it needs to be silenced.

Christopher: 11:06

It's it's just our own concerns. We'll get to that in a second. But when our heart is saying, you've gotta deal with this, there's no way to have confidence before God as a child. And oftentimes, the pain of that situation, instead of leading us to say, okay, I'm gonna deal with the stuff I'm hiding, I'm gonna deal with it and get it out so I can be confident before my father. Oftentimes that leads us to just come to our father less and less and less because it's uncomfortable.

Christopher: 11:34

And we still believe, we still trust, we still say all the right things, our lips are still there, but our heart is drifting further and further away because it's more and more uncomfortable to come to him. This is like the family that says, well I don't want the relatives to come over because the house is too messy. Well and then the relatives never come over and they begin drifting further and further apart. And guess what? The house is getting messier and messier and messier.

Christopher: 12:02

That's what's happening. And John doesn't want that for his readers and the Holy Spirit doesn't want that for us. He wants us to come to God with a clear conscience, open heart to him. How do we get that? How do we have a heart that's not condemning us?

Christopher: 12:18

Well last week's message, right, we looked at that. Two quick things I would say that John gives us here. How do I come to him with this childlike confidence? The first is, if I am living in sin, if I have a nice clean life, but there's that one room where I go when I want to do the thing I'm not allowed to do, but I keep that room locked and nobody goes there, so it doesn't really matter. Right?

Christopher: 12:41

It does matter. Like that room is the room God cares about. So if that's the situation, go into the room, rip the door open, and say, Lord look. Look. And guess what he does?

Christopher: 12:55

Washes into it. Washes into it with his mercy in Christ. Pours into it with his grace in Christ. Floods it with his forgiveness in Christ. He doesn't say, he doesn't stop and say, are you kidding me?

Christopher: 13:08

The whole time this was here? He knows. Open it and watch him flood it with his mercy in Christ. John first John one nine says this, if we confess our sins, if we open the door, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So the first thing to say would be if we can't be confident because we've got a locked room, because there's something that needs to be dealt with, confess it.

Christopher: 13:39

Confess it to him and watch him drown it in the Niagara of his grace pouring from his heart in Christ. And if fitting, if it's fitting, confess it not just to him but to a brother or a sister and and get it dealt with. So that would be the first thing. But the second thing is perhaps our heart is just plaguing us with uncertainty. I don't belong to him.

Christopher: 14:02

I'm not good enough. I'm not his. And that's where we would go back to last week's message where John says, look at the works, look at the fruit that's being born in your life. Is Christ like love being born on the branches of your life? Not perfectly, but are you beginning to love in the name of Jesus?

Christopher: 14:20

Are you beginning to serve in the name of Jesus? Are you beginning to look like him? If so, the fact that you're doing that is not your confidence, but the fact that that is there says you belong to him. You don't love people in the name of Christ unless you belong to Christ. There we could get more complicated, but in general that's John's point here.

Christopher: 14:42

If we are his, we will begin to look like him. Therefore, if there are places in our life where love is being born and I I am being changed, then point your heart to that and says say, heart, be quiet. Look. I'm in the vine. I belong to him.

Christopher: 14:59

I am being made like him. I do belong to him, and so I can have confidence before him. So we could wrap this up and say it this way. The first one thing John says, the way we have confidence before Christ is by works of love that are flowing from faith. The look in verse 18.

Christopher: 15:18

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. And by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him. So there's the one category, we're really being convicted. Okay. Confess that.

Christopher: 15:32

Let's deal with that. But there's the other category, my heart is just condemning me and I feel bad and I'm doubting things. In that in that place, here's what we do. Point to the works of love that are flowing from faith in Christ. That's a source of confidence.

Christopher: 15:48

Now he gives us a second one. He gives us a second one in verse 22. Whatever we ask we receive from him, that's that's happening because we have confidence before him. And underneath that, supporting that is this, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. Now you could hear that and say, If that is not a earn an answer from God text, I don't know what is.

Christopher: 16:14

We get answers because we're doing what pleases him. We're we're doing what he commands. Isn't that saying I'm earning from God what he gives me? Well, let's what does John mean by keeping his commandments and doing what pleases him? What what's he have in mind?

Christopher: 16:28

Does he have in mind, we'll give this much, do this much, go to church this much? What's he have in mind? Look down in verse 23. And this, in case you were wondering, is his commandment. And it's a single commandment because all the commandments, plural, are bound up in this two part commandment, singular.

Christopher: 16:48

Here's the commandment. Here's the commandment that obedience to gives confidence before God. Here's his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us. So what is what gives us confidence before God? That we are what is the obedience to his commandments?

Christopher: 17:13

That we are believing in the name of Jesus. Name here meaning his character, his identity, who he is. Not just saying, yeah, I believe he exists. I I I hold fast to his identity. I'm holding on to this one, this crucified one who is risen as my Lord, my God, and the revealer to me of the father.

Christopher: 17:39

I'm holding to him. That's obedience. Believe. Faith. Believe in Christ.

Christopher: 17:47

That's the first thing. And the second thing flowing out of it, love one another as he has loved us just as he has commanded us. And so flowing out of that faith in Christ is love for one another. Love that looks like his love. So so the second way we can be confident before God is this, faith in Christ, believing in him that leads to love.

Christopher: 18:16

That's obedience to his commandments. Now let me pull this together and give you some clarity here. We've looked at two ways we can be confidence confident before God. The first one is acts of love flowing from faith. That's verse eighteen and nineteen.

Christopher: 18:32

The second one is belief in Christ, faith that leads to love. That is verse 23, obedience to his commands. So here's how we be confident. We look at the acts of love that flow from faith and we have the faith that leads to acts of love. That's the confidence.

Christopher: 18:50

Put them together, what is it? Faith working through love is where we have confidence before God. Is there faith? And is it working out through love that allows me to run to my father with confidence? Not not that I'm doing so much, just it's there.

Christopher: 19:08

Is there faith in the name of Christ? And is that bearing even incrementally the fruit of love in my life? That's this root of confidence that lets us come before our father. And before we look at how this affects us in prayer, let me just add this to it. Faith leading to love is our confidence.

Christopher: 19:29

But John four nineteen, first John four nineteen says, we love because he first loved us. So I want you to see that underneath all of this, before we do anything, before we believe and which leads to the works of love, there is a bedrock. Just like there's a foundation before you lay the first boards of the house, there's a foundation before our faith and before our love. And what is it? We love from faith because he first loved us.

Christopher: 20:01

So beneath, I want you to feel this, undergirding all of our confidence is God's love for us in Christ. Supremely, the reason we can come before him in confidence is because of the name with which we are named at the beginning of verse 21. Beloved, beloved, if our heart does not condemn us we have confidence before God. You are named Christian. You who are holding on to Christ and in whose life there's evidence that you belong to him, even incremental.

Christopher: 20:34

You are named beloved and that is your confidence. Nothing you're doing but what your name is in Christ, beloved one. That's why we can come before him in confidence. And the point of this confidence here in this text is prayer. Okay?

Christopher: 20:52

So we looked at this confidence. Ultimately God's love for us bearing the fruit of our faith that leads to Christ like love. That's that's why we can come before him in confidence. And John says, I want you to come before him in confidence and pray with the assurance that your prayers are heard and will be answered. See verse 22, verse 21, beloved if our heart does not condemn us we have confidence before God, and what's that confidence for?

Christopher: 21:20

And whatever we ask we are receiving from him. So that's what John wants, confidence that in coming to God in prayer we're heard and we're receiving it. And this is not a random thing for John. This is not out of his character. He mentions this confidence in prayer quite a bit.

Christopher: 21:39

Let me just read you rapid fire here a few texts beginning in his gospel. So John chapter 14 verses 12 to 14 says this, truly, this is Jesus speaking, truly truly I say to you whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. There's faith leading to love. Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do that the father may be glorified in the son.

Christopher: 22:16

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Then in the next chapter, you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, love, and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the father in my name he may give it to you. There it is again. The next chapter, John 16 verse twenty three and twenty four. In that day, the day Christ is risen, you will ask nothing of me.

Christopher: 22:45

Truly truly I say to you, whatever you ask of the father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you've asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. And then back in first John again at the very end of first John verses fourteen and fifteen, it says this, this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests we've asked of him.

Christopher: 23:16

So I I just read those through for you to hear. John is not make this is not a one off for John. This is something he cares about. This is something Jesus cares about. This is something the spirit cares about.

Christopher: 23:27

So the repetition makes it clear that God wants his children to come to him with confidence and to pray knowing that their prayers are heard and are being answered. And for us to seek that kind of confidence is not presumption, it's obedience. Because he says over and over again, this is this is my will. This is my will for you. Okay.

Christopher: 23:54

Okay. Great. I see that. But wait a second. Whatever we ask, we receive.

Christopher: 24:00

Really? So how how do I understand that part? Because as I said, there are theologies out there that would say, hey, you name it, you claim it. You say this is what I'm going to get. You pray it with enough faith, and guess what?

Christopher: 24:16

You will get it. You will get it. You want your child to be healed? Pray enough. You want perfect health?

Christopher: 24:22

Pray. You want financial success? Pray. You want career advances? Pray.

Christopher: 24:27

Whatever you want, just pray. Oh, and if you don't get it, you must not have believed enough. There must not have had enough faith. What's that gonna do to your psyche when your child does die? What's that gonna do to your soul?

Christopher: 24:41

That's damnable what that does to your soul. If you don't get it, you must not obey enough. What's that gonna do? When when your life falls apart and you think, well, I guess it's on me. I wasn't obeying enough.

Christopher: 24:53

Right? Is that what this text says? Someone could certainly and someone does rip it out of context and say, well, yeah, that is what it says. But that is to do violence to the text here. Not only to rip it out of context here in John, but to rip it out of context in Christ.

Christopher: 25:16

Because all of scripture is to be read in light of Christ. The crucified king who is risen, he's the lens through which we read scripture. And the crucified Lord calls us to follow him on the way of the cross. He is enthroned, and in this world his throne is a cross. So he doesn't call us to follow the crucified and bleeding savior, doesn't call us to follow him on the gold paved path of wealth and prosperity.

Christopher: 25:50

He calls us to follow him on the path of the cross. And he may well give prosperity along that path. He may well give health along that path, but those things don't define that path. His path is the path of the cross. And to read a text like this in such a way that I think of it as a blank check to fill out for my natural desire to avoid the cross.

Christopher: 26:16

To avoid the hard things. To say, well, they're all all the hard things are just bad. That can't be from the Lord, so I'm gonna avoid them. That sounds to me like Peter going up to Jesus and saying, oh you'll never go to the cross. Far be it from you Lord.

Christopher: 26:30

You'll never suffer. And those who belong to you, they'll never suffer. Right? Remember what Jesus says to that? Get behind me Satan.

Christopher: 26:41

So I wouldn't encourage that sort of reading of this text. How are we to understand this text then? Because it does say whatever we ask we're receiving. It does say that. We can't we don't want to read that away.

Christopher: 26:55

How do we understand this? Well, we need to nuance it. There's there's there's clarification that John gives here. Not so much in this passage, but in the ones that we just looked at. John does give some clarification.

Christopher: 27:08

Remember what he said, what Jesus our Lord says in John fourteen thirteen through 14. He says, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do that the father may be glorified in the son. And then again at the end of John we read this. This is the confidence we have for him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. So the whatever we ask here in chapter three needs to be read through the lens of in my name and according to God's will.

Christopher: 27:50

Whatever we ask works when it's plugged into the context of in the name of Christ and according to the will of God. That's where this whatever you ask is true. So let's think about those two things. In Jesus name and according to God's will. In Jesus name.

Christopher: 28:09

What does that mean? Is in Jesus name just a magical charm, an incantation I put at the end of my whatever I pray so that now God has to do it because I said it in Jesus name? There were things like that in the first century. Magicians who would work with names, powerful names, but that's not what's going on here. In scripture, name means as I already mentioned earlier, identity, character, the essence of who you are.

Christopher: 28:38

To do something in someone's name would be to do something according to who that person is, in agreement with who that person is. So to pray in Jesus name is not to slap a magical phrase on the end of our prayer and say now it's good. To pray in Jesus name means to pray in union with the stream of his character, In union with the direction of who he is. So think about a paper airplane and you've got the wind blowing. I got my little paper airplane.

Christopher: 29:12

I throw it into the wind, against the wind, and it blows back in my face. Nothing. It doesn't work. I throw it with the wind and watch it go further than I could have ever thrown it myself. Jesus's name is like that wind.

Christopher: 29:27

It's moving in a certain direction. He has a particular character. He has a particular identity as it's revealed in scripture. And to pray just whatever I want, just, yeah, pray my own unsanctified will, slap Jesus name on it, that's like throwing that prayer, that airplane of my prayer against his character. It just it obliterates.

Christopher: 29:49

Or he he does what he wants. I can't speak for him. He does what he wants, but in general that's that's not the prayer we're talking about here. To pray in his name is to pray according to his character, according to who he is, according to his revealed identity, and it's prayers according to him that he says, I'm ready to do that. I'm ready to answer that.

Christopher: 30:12

Pray whatever you want along that stream of my name. I'm ready to answer that. So praying in his name is praying according to who he is. In those same lines, prayer according to God's will. So it doesn't just say, hey, you know, God is a vending machine.

Christopher: 30:30

Pray anything. Remember, the end of first John, the same book we're in says, this is our confidence. If we pray anything according to his will, he hears us. So confidence in prayer doesn't come from earning God's favor by having strong enough faith or having done enough, bringing the big sack of all that I've done and saying, okay, time for you to answer some prayers. That's that's not how the confidence we have comes.

Christopher: 30:56

We have confidence because in before him in prayer because we know what I'm praying now is God's will. That's when you have unshakable confidence. When the little stick of your prayer is set in the White River, the white water river of his will rushing along, you know, this is going to go somewhere. This is going to work. This is achieving what I'm asking.

Christopher: 31:22

How do you have confidence? Because it's according to his will. Now we'll look at the practicality of that in a moment, but that right now I just want you to see that. That's where the confidence comes. And really, these two things are the same.

Christopher: 31:34

The name of Christ and the will of God. Prayers that are prayed in in the name of Christ and according to the will of God, we can be confident in them. But of course, what is Jesus's name, his character, his identity, but the will of God embodied. Jesus's name is what the will of God looks like lived as a human being. And so to pray in the name of Jesus and to pray according to the will of God is the same concept.

Christopher: 32:04

Praying according to who God is declared to be in this text and in the flesh given from the cross, raised from the dead, enthroned over all things now. So so confidence in prayer is not about me naming what I want, but it's about Jesus's name shaping what I pray. That's where it comes from. It's not me naming what I want and praying it into existence. It's about the name of Jesus shaping my wants so I pray accordingly.

Christopher: 32:43

That's where we have confidence in prayer. As my wants are being shaped to be like him, then I'm having confidence. And that's why he goes right into saying, though it might seem jarring to us, whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. The point here is not because we're obeying enough, we get what we pray for. The point is our obedience is making us the sort of person that prays according to God's will.

Christopher: 33:18

That's the point. Obedience okay. This is this is key to get. So often we think obedience is the thing I do for God. That's not true.

Christopher: 33:30

Obedience is something God is doing in and for us to make us a certain kind of person. When you parents, you parents of young children, you make a good meal for your children. It's healthy. It's good. You give it to them.

Christopher: 33:45

They fight over every bite of it. And then they finish the bare minimum that you've agreed on with them. And they say, well, are you happy now? I did this for you. And it's, you didn't eat that for me.

Christopher: 33:58

That was for you. That was for your good. That was keeping you alive. Similarly, the commands that we have in scripture are not the things God says, do these for me and then I'll do stuff for you. The commands in scripture are God's merciful gifts.

Christopher: 34:12

He's saying, this is how your soul needs to work. This is how your soul needs to live. The commands are shaping us to be the sort of people who pray according to his character, and it's those prayers that are being answered. So our obedience, our trust in Christ and loving like Christ, our obedience is the way that God shapes our soul into the image of Christ, moves our will into the sphere of his own will, so that the prayers coming out of this soul are in line with his character. Think about it like this.

Christopher: 34:45

Imagine there's a man who says I got a lot of seed to scatter, and he comes and stands in the middle of the blacktop and just starts throwing it out on the sealed blacktop. Those seeds are not. They're not going anywhere. But then imagine slowly, mercifully, this man is pushed, moved step by step until he's standing in the middle of a field. And now the seed he's scattering is taking root and growing and things are happening.

Christopher: 35:12

Similarly, when we're praying just out of, yeah, my just whatever I want, my own dislocated from Christ will, I'm scattering seed on the blacktop. But obedience is the way that God is gently and mercifully moving our souls into the soil of his will, making us like himself, conforming us to him so that as we scatter prayers from our heart, now they're landing in the soil. Now they're in according to him. Now things are happening because our hearts have been shaped to be like Christ. Let me move us let me move us to this final point because this is really where the practicality comes out for us.

Christopher: 35:57

So I get it. Okay. I get confidence is not about naming what I want and claiming it. It's about Jesus's name shaping what I want, so I pray accordingly. I'm beginning to see that.

Christopher: 36:10

Okay? And obedience is the way that God is shaping my heart to be like Christ so that my prayers are in line with him. But what does it look like though? What does it look like tomorrow morning? Can I still pray for things that I want?

Christopher: 36:23

Can I still pray for the job? Can I still pray for the sickness to go away? Can I still pray for the surgery to go well? Can I still pray for clarity in the midst of this situation? Yes.

Christopher: 36:34

Yes. That's what would fit into where Jesus says, give us this day our daily bread. We come to our father and we say, here's the bread I want. Here's the bread that looks good to me. Here's the bread I desperately want for my children or for my friend or for myself.

Christopher: 36:50

That's good. That's not bad. But the confidence in that sort of prayer is not the same as the confidence when we're praying God's revealed will. The confidence in that sort of prayer is the confidence that says, I might not get this bread, but I know that my father will not give me a stone. I'm drawing from Jesus's teaching in Matthew there.

Christopher: 37:15

I don't know for certain there is no thus saith the Lord, your child will get better. There that's not there. But there is thus saith the Lord, his heart is the heart of a father. He doesn't give what is bad. He doesn't give a scorpion when we ask him for food.

Christopher: 37:30

And so I can come and say, father, please, this is the bread I'm asking for. And we can know his heart in Christ will give us good. So that's true. I'm I'm not saying you can't do that. But what I am saying, what John is saying, is that there is a prayer that has unshakable assurance.

Christopher: 37:49

Absolute assurance. And that's the prayer that is a prayer according to the revealed will of God. According to the name of Jesus Christ. The character of Jesus Christ. Okay.

Christopher: 38:01

How do I pray those prayers? Well, we see God's will. Do do I have to do one of these horrible searches for God's will and figure out from the signs and something somebody said to me three weeks ago that maybe this is God's will for me to do this? And is that how we figure it out? We figure out his will in scripture.

Christopher: 38:21

And specifically today, you see his will in his commands. In his commands. Just for me, this blew open the bible in completely fresh ways. Let's see if it helps you. John says, if we pray according to his will, we know that he hears us and we know that we receive it.

Christopher: 38:44

That's in first John five fourteen and fifteen. That's where our confidence comes from. If we pray according to his will, we know that he hears it, we know that we are receiving it. Well guess what? If you see a command in scripture, that's God's will.

Christopher: 38:59

Whatever God commands, he wills. Very simple. Very simple. I don't know what God's will is in this specific situation in my life, but I have a lot of places he says, husbands, love your wives. Love your neighbors.

Christopher: 39:16

Trust in Christ. Return good for evil. We see commands, do not fear. I know 1000% that's God's will, so I can pray that with unshakable assurance. Anywhere you see a command in scripture, you know God wants this to happen.

Christopher: 39:41

Therefore, every command becomes for you an answered prayer waiting to be planted. He's ready to do what he commands of us because he wills it. Three examples as we wrap things up. Let me just give them to you so you can see the kind of thing I'm talking about. I'm gonna pull these from Jesus's farewell discourse.

Christopher: 40:01

John 16 verse 63. This is this is something Jesus commands you and me. Let's look at it. John, I'll read it for you. You can turn there if you want.

Christopher: 40:14

John 16 verse 33. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart I have overcome the world. That's a command from Jesus Christ. In me, I've said this so that in me you would have peace.

Christopher: 40:43

In the world you will have trouble, But take heart. That's a command. Take heart. Hope. Do not despair.

Christopher: 40:52

I have overcome the world. That's that's the will of God. There's a thousand things I don't know about the will of God, but I know his will is that we would take heart. That we would have peace. His will is that in the face of the horrors of this world, his people would not lose heart.

Christopher: 41:15

His will is is that in the face of the hardships of this world, in the face of the world, the wolves of this world that ravage your peace, his will is that you would still that you would have peace. Though I can I can stand here today, I don't do this often because I don't wanna speak beyond my capacity, but on the basis of this text, I can tell you the will of God is that you have peace in Christ? I can tell you the will of God is that your heart would not be thrown into trouble by the tumults of the world, but that you would take heart and stay rooted in him. That's his will. And you say, I can't do it.

Christopher: 41:56

Right. Pray. This is a prayer ready to be answered. You go to him and you say, father, you said take heart and my heart is destroyed. Answer give this answer.

Christopher: 42:09

Give what you commanded. Do, father, the things you commanded to do. Help me to take heart. Give me peace. That and you and you can have confidence because it's his will.

Christopher: 42:22

So go with confidence and say, father, I won't leave until what you've commanded has been done, until the peace is here, until the rest is here. I'm seeking you for that. Okay. I need to move on. The next command.

Christopher: 42:38

The next command. John fourteen twenty seven. In the same vein it says this, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.

Christopher: 42:52

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Again, hear that. That's a command. Sometimes you think, commands are the scary things. Commands are the harsh things.

Christopher: 43:04

Commands are the things I want to stay away from. I want the mercy. But look at what he says. He commands you this, let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid. That's a command.

Christopher: 43:18

God almighty says, don't be afraid. Don't be troubled. And we go to him in utter confidence and say, father, I know this is your will and my heart is decimated. I know this is your will and I am gripped by fear, which I know is not your will. So give in the name of Jesus.

Christopher: 43:41

Give this answer because it's your will and I know you'll do it. That's the kind of confidence John is calling for here. Come to him and seek him. And and the bible's full of that now. Every command is a is a prayer we know our father's ready to answer.

Christopher: 44:00

And then finally, in the text we have today, look at the commandment that we would believe in the name of Jesus Christ his son and love one another as he has commanded us. Do you know that it's as impossible for you to believe in the name of Jesus and love as he's loved you as it is for the paralyzed man to stand up and walk? And yet Jesus said to the paralyzed man, I command you stand and walk. And he was enabled to do it. And Jesus says to us, I command you, believe and love.

Christopher: 44:33

And he enables us to do it. And so come in prayer and say, father, help me hold fast to the name of Christ. Help me believe in Jesus as the truth. Help me to believe that the horrors flooding my eyes through the media are not the truth. They're the they're the surface on top of the truth.

Christopher: 44:57

The truth is the crucified one who is risen. The truth is Jesus Christ. Help me to believe in him, And help me father to love like him. Not to do the thing I do so naturally, is to tuck in and just be fine and comfortable. Help me to love like him.

Christopher: 45:15

And he's going to answer that. Is God gonna say no? I'm not gonna answer that for you. He's just commanded it. He's not two wills.

Christopher: 45:24

He's one will. And he will give according to what he has said. So come to scripture Christian and know every command becomes a prayer he's ready to answer. When I pray according to his will, I know that he hears me and I know that he will give what I'm asking. And his will is Jesus's name.

Christopher: 45:45

So ultimately, every Christian, these two, every prayer is the prayer Jesus. You know that Jesus means Yahweh saves. That's every prayer. Jesus. Jesus.

Christopher: 46:01

Yahweh, save from my sin. Yahweh, save from my brokenness. Yahweh, the world. Yahweh, save the brokenness. Jesus.

Christopher: 46:10

Jesus is the only prayer we ever pray. And that's the prayer God will always answer. Let's pray in that name. Father we praise you for Jesus Christ our Lord, our God, our savior, your son and our king. We praise you that he is crucified under every every darkness.

Christopher: 46:35

There is no depth of horror in this world or in hell itself that your son has not swallowed into himself and overcome completely through his cross. And that he has not raised up with him in his resurrection and made to sing the hallelujah to your praise. Made to sing all the shattered universe made to sing the praises of your name through the slain Christ who is risen. He is the truth. And father, may all of our life be conformed to his name.

Christopher: 47:10

And may we pray in accordance with his name. And may we see those prayers fulfilled to the glory of your name, father, through your son, by the spirit, in the church, now and forevermore. We pray it in Jesus name. Amen.

Caleb: 47:28

Thank you for listening to this message from King's Tree Church in Sabina, Ohio. To see more of the beauty of God and the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship with us on Sundays at 10AM or visit our website at kingstreechurch.org.