That You May Know 1 John 5:13-15

Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/that-you-may-know-steve-shepherd-sermon-on-salvation-150326.asp

1 John 5:13 NET I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

14 And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything

according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, then we know that we have the requests

that we have asked from him.

A man jumps out of an airplane parachuting for the first time. As he’s falling, he realizes his chute is broken. He doesn’t know anything about parachutes, but as the earth rapidly

approaches, he realizes his options are limited; he starts working on the parachute trying to fix it

himself on the way down.

The wind is ripping past his face, he’s dropping like a rock, and suddenly at 5000 feet, another man goes shooting up past him. In desperation, the man with the chute looks up and yells, "Hey

do you know anything about parachutes?!"

The guy flying up looks down and yells, "No, do you know anything about gas stoves?!"

Some knowledge is good or can be very good if you learn it at the right time in life.

And knowledge is a good thing if it’s a good knowledge. There is both knowledge of good and evil and I suspect that most of us know

more about evil than we should know!

The prompt action of a young woman had saved the life of a man whose arm had been almost severed from his body. When the others were praising her for what she had done, she replied modestly that she deserved no special praise,

as her teacher at school had taught her what to do under such circumstances.

"Oh, I knew that, too," exclaimed another young lady, "and if anyone had asked how to stop the flow of blood from a wound, I could have given the answer just as it is in the book; but I never

thought of applying it to this case.“The young woman is a typical character. In

cases of spiritual peril, a good many of us, who could give the answer "just as it is in the Book," never think of applying our knowledge for the

benefit of those who are in danger.

Too many, who know the great Physician for themselves, never seem to think of sending their

friends to him.When it comes to a knowledge of God there has to be more than just knowing The Word. There must be action! We know faith without action is

not good.James 2:26 NET For just as the body without

the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Wouldn’t the same be true with knowing God’s Word, but not doing anything with it?

John 14:15 NET "If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

1 John 2:3 NET Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his

commandments.

4 The one who says "I have come to know God" and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 5 But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the

love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. 6 The one who says he

resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.

James 1:22 NET But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out,

he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror.

24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one

who lives it out — he will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:22 (Da Jesus Book) An no ony lissen to da tings God say, now. You guys gotta do um! Cuz if you ony lissen, you ony fooling yoaself.

23 Da guy who ony like hear, an no like do notting, he jalike one guy dat check out his face

inside da mirror. 24 An wen da guy go way, awready he no can rememba wat kine face he

get.

25 But everyting God tell his peopo dey gotta do, dass perfeck, cuz dass wat can hemo you

from all da bad kine stuff. So den, if you go check out real good da Rules from God, an no foget wat you wen hear, an stay do um, eh! you

goin feel real good inside cuz you stay doing um.

Don’t you see action in these verses? “whoever obeys his word” “ought himself to walk just as

Jesus walked.” “be sure you live out the message” “you stay doing um” Before there can

be action, there must be knowledge of God’s Word to drive the action. God never changes.

His truth is eternal. What God says in His Word stands true forever! You can take that to the

bank, so to speak, and draw big interest on it!

Pollster George Gallup Jr. has long referred to America as a "nation of biblical illiterates." Only four in 10 Americans know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. A majority of citizens

cannot name the four Gospels of the New Testament. Only three in 10 teenagers know

why Easter is celebrated. Two-thirds of Americans believe there are few, if any, absolute

principles to direct human behavior.

I would hope that people are not as ignorant of God’s Word as Gallup says. If so, we Americans are in deep trouble spiritually. Come to think of

it, we are in trouble!

A little boy saw his father use a square to see if a board he was planing was straight. “Why are

you so careful, Daddy?” asked the boy.

“We can’t guess in carpenter work,” his dad said. “You have to be just right. People guess at too many things. God does not like that way of

living.”

“I guess there are no squares for living by,” said the boy. “Yes, there are squares to live by, and you will find them in the Bible. Test all that you

do by them, and you’ll go straight in life, my boy.”

It is always right to go by the Word of God!

2 Timothy 2:15 NET Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the

message of truth accurately.

2 Timothy 3:16 NET Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17

that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

Psalms 119:9 NET ב (Bet) How can a young person maintain a pure life? By guarding it

according to your instructions! 10 With all my heart I seek you. Do not allow me to stray from your commands! 11 In my heart I store up your

words, so I might not sin against you.God’s Word is powerful! We need to know the Word in order to know God and when we know

Him some good things will happen to us.

John tells what we can know or expect to know when we know the Lord.

1- When we know Him we will know we have eternal life

2- When we know Him we will know we can ask anything of Him

WHEN WE KNOW HIM WE WILL KNOW WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE

13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that

you may know that you have eternal life.

YOU WHO BELIEVE IN THE NAME!

Napoleon found an artist once painting a picture, and asked him, “Whom are you painting

that for?” And he, drawing himself up proudly, replied, “I am painting it for immortality, sir.”“How long will your canvas last?” asked the

Emperor. “It has been skillfully prepared; it will last at least a thousand years.”

Napoleon shrugged his shoulders: “Now we have an artist’s idea of immortality.” ONLY A

THOUSAND YEARS?!

Most people have little idea when it comes to the matter of immortality or eternity. And many

don’t believe at all.

- Frank Lloyd Wright (American architect) - I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.

(Mother Nature? HARDLY!)- Woody Allen - Not only is there no god, but try

getting a plumber on weekends.

- Thomas Edison - I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God. So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is fake… Religion is all bunk.

- Katherine Hepburn - I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except

that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for each other.

- Andy Rooney (60 Minutes fame) - "I am an atheist... I don’t understand religion at all. I’m

sure I’ll offend a lot of people by saying this, but I think it’s all nonsense."

- Bill Gates (Chairman of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world at $53 billion) - In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific

approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don’t know if there’s a god or not, but I

think religious principles are quite valid.

Who cares if these people and multitudes of others don’t believe in God or eternity?!!

WE DO!ILL.- Thomas Mann (6 June 1875 – 12 August

1955) was a German novelist, a short story writer. He always worked on each book for a

very long time. Even when the manuscript was supposedly ready, he continued to work on it.

When he kept changing things in The Magic Mountain, his publisher finally called him up and

wailed, “We’ll never get this book out! You’ve been working on it for eternity!”

“After all,” was his calm reply, “I’m writing it for eternity!”

How about my preaching. I’m doing this for eternity. I’m preaching sermons for the sake of

my eternal soul and for those souls who will hear them or read them on the Internet.

I believe in eternity! I believe in life beyond the grave! I believe there is a better and more

beautiful life than the one we experience on earth. I am teaching and preaching for eternity.

That is, to make a mark on some for sake of eternity!

Thinking of the fullness and duration of this wonderful life, W. B. Hinson, a great Baptist

preacher of a past generation, spoke from his own experience just before he died.

He said, "I remember a year ago when a doctor told me, ’You have an illness from which you won’t recover.’ I walked out to where I live 5 miles from Portland, Oregon, and I looked

across at that mountain that I love.

I looked at the river in which I rejoice, and I looked at the stately trees that are always God’s

own poetry to my soul. Then in the evening I looked up into the great sky where God was

lighting His lamps, and I said, ’

I may not see you many more times, but Mountain,

I shall be alive when you are gone;

and River, I shall be alive when you cease

running toward the sea; and Stars,

I shall be alive when you have fallen from your sockets in the great down pulling of the material

universe!’ "

It’s been reported that baseball great, Mickey Mantle, said these words a few days before he passed away in August of 1995: "I’ll just say, ’For God so loved the world that he gave his

only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ I am trusting Christ’s death for me to take me to

heaven."

What about you? Do you know that you will live forever? You can know when you know Him who

gives eternal life. And do you know Him? You can only know Him through His Son, His Spirit and His Word. The more we know of them, the

more assurance of eternal life we’ll have!

WHEN WE KNOW HIM WE WILL KNOW WE CAN ASK

ANYTHING OF HIM

14 And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything

according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, then we know that we have the requests

that we have asked from him.

One day, some years ago, a policeman walking his beat in Chicago, observed a man standing

before a little building, with bared head, acting—as the cop thought—“pretty strange.”

“Either sick—or drunk,” he concluded, eyeing the man suspiciously.

Then he walked up to where the man stood with eyes closed, and grunted: “What’s the matter,

Mac? Are you sick?” The man opened his eyes, and smiled. “No, officer. My name’s Bill Sunday,

and I was converted right here in that little mission. I never come by here that I don’t take

off my hat and say a prayer.”

The cop grinned, reached out a giant hand to Billy, and said, heartily: “Put ‘er there, Bill! I’ve

heard about it. You keep right on with your prayer, and I’ll keep the crowd away.”

Billy Sunday believed in Christ and he also believed in prayer.

There may be nothing more unsettling than a person who is down on his knees in prayer!

People don’t know what to think or what to do. And they fear approaching such a person.

They're on holy ground. Approach cautiously!

Matthew 7:7 NET "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door

will be opened for you.

8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks,

the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will

give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you

are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in

heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Acts 16:25 NET About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and

the rest of the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so

that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the

bonds of all the prisoners came loose.

Hebrews 5:7 NET During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with

loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because

of his devotion.

James 5:16 NET So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you

may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.

1 Peter 3:12 NET For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the Lord's face is against

those who do evil. (Psalm 34:15-16) When you read scriptures like these, how can

you not believe in the power of prayer? And John says that when we know Him we also

know that we can ask anything of Him, according to his will, and He will hear us and

answer.

E. M. Bounds wrote: “The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods,

but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint

plans, but men, men of prayer."

Corrie Ten Boom put it this way: “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” For us who

know God and believe, prayer is a steering wheel in life.

Someone said that knowledge humbles the great man, astonishes the common man, and

puffs up the little man.

It could well be! I know this for sure: That a knowledge of God, Christ and the Bible will both

humble and astonish a person who is honest, sincere and seeking.

God, please help us to know you better, to know you more, to believe you, to trust you and walk

with you always.