As we continue to make our way to the end of 1 John, chapter 5, we read in connection with verses 14 and 15, which will serve as our text tonight, we read in connection with that James, chapter 4. So we turn first to James 4. James 4, hear now the Word of God. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to live in us envies intensely, but He gives us more grace? That is why Scripture says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There's only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you, who are you to judge your neighbor? Now listen, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. We turn to our text, 1 John 5, verses 14 and 15. This is the confidence we have in approaching God. That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of Him. Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 13, which we considered last week, was really a fitting conclusion to John's letter as he summarized in that verse, I believe, his entire letter. And he summarized the purpose for this letter by saying in that verse, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. Those who believe have eternal life. And they may know, they must know that they have eternal life. And now then, in the closing sentences of his letter, John, if you will, gives a conclusion to his conclusion by reminding believers of the confidence they enjoy. Confidence that flows from having and knowing that they have eternal life. The source of the believer's confidence as well as the one alone in whom we are to have confidence is our sovereign God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other source of hope we don't place our confidence in things we don't place it in creatures but only in the Creator the One who made us the One of whom the psalmist says we are His people the sheep of His pasture in his closing remarks then John speaks first about confidence but this way confidence of prayer for the child of God and John begins the text this is the confidence we have in approaching God Now, he isn't talking there about some vain wish or some hope that he doesn't know will come to pass or not, but he's talking about a fact. Approaching God for the believer is a fact. And having confidence in approaching God is a fact. And first of all, then the child of God has confidence as he approaches God. He has confidence in God's favor. Well, who may approach God? John says, we. Well, based on all that he has said so far and even based on what we have considered in our study of the Lord's Prayer in our morning services, it seems clear that John is talking about those who are born of God and therefore have eternal life. Those who have fellowship with God, who walk in the light of God's truth, who obey the commands of God and who love their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. All these things that John has taught throughout this letter, These are the ones who have eternal life. They know they have eternal life. And these are the ones who are able to confidently come before God in prayer, knowing they come because of Christ's righteousness and not their own. And they don't simply come out of desperation or when times get tough like many people do. You've heard the saying, there are no atheists in foxholes, which means that when things get bad enough, Even the worst of atheists, or the strongest of atheists maybe I should say, will cry out to God in prayer. But these don't do that. They don't just come to God when times get tough. They pray without ceasing. And prayer for the child of God is not just some sort of uncertain experiment not knowing whether prayer works or not. Sometimes you might see that on a TV show where someone prays something like, God, if you're really listening, or God, if you're really there, or God, if you're not too busy, maybe you could. That's nothing more than prayer laced with doubt. The believer's confidence as a child of God adopted in Christ Jesus is that he or she may come before God anytime, anywhere, taking all of our circumstances, petitions, and requests to God in prayer. And we know, we have the confidence that God is really there. That He's never too busy for us. And as the text says, He always hears us. God favors His people because they have been washed in the blood of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our confidence is, as the psalmist says in Psalm 4, verse 3, know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself. The Lord will hear when I call to Him. And also David says in Psalm 145, verse 18, The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. Beloved, this is confidence that belongs to the believer by faith. It's the most wonderful element of that gift of faith given to us freely by God. Through faith, we know God as He has revealed Himself through His Son and through His Word and through His creation. And through faith, we know who we are only in Christ Jesus. We are those who are received by God. We may come into His very presence. And then we also know our place with God because of Christ. We are His children adopted for the sake of Christ Jesus. And we know that God is our God, our refuge, our strength, our fortress, our Heavenly Father, all and only because of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Those who are a part of the Bride of Christ have confidence before God in prayer because God Himself commands His people to pray. It's spread throughout Scripture, especially the Psalms. Even as our Lord says, Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you. You will glorify Me. Prayer, as we know, is the vital breath of the Christian by which we respond to God speaking to us through His Word. And those then who have confidence in God's favor also have confidence of God's will. Verse 14, this is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. I think often we want to stop at the word anything. That if we ask anything, and skip according to His will, He hears us. But we are to have confidence in God's will. You see, beloved, we are not to take this to mean that God is some oppressive ruler who says it's got to be my way or the highway. Oh, indeed, it's got to be God's way, but not because He is some tyrannical ruler or oppressive ruler, but because there's a good reason for that. As we were somewhat reminded this morning with the petition of Thy Kingdom Come, the kingdom rules are for the benefit of the kingdom's citizens. God's will is for the good of His redeemed children, and it can't be any other way simply because of who God is and what He has promised, simply because of God's very character and His love for His people. It cannot be any other way. See, John repeats here what Jesus Himself taught by example. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me, yet not My will, but Yours be done. But again, it is to be our delight to pray according to God's will, and we are to be confident in God's will, because even more than earthly parents desire what's best for their children, our Heavenly Father delights and desires what's best for His children, and therefore His will is never for the believer's harm. Never. but God's will is always for the believer's good. But what does it mean then to pray according to God's will? How can we do that? Well, very simply, first of all, by being students of and believers in His revealed will. Indeed, prayer is speaking to God, but it's not simply that. It's not simply speaking any old thing we feel like. It is speaking to God in response to His Word. Prayer includes searching the Word of God. It includes submitting in obedience to the Word of God. God is to be glorified even in our prayers, and He is glorified as our prayers are prayed according to His will. His will includes how one is to come to Him in prayer, the character of the one who prays. First of all, we are to come to God in prayer with the proper motive. The proper motive. What is that? Not my will, but Your will be done. By nature, we are selfish, each one of us. Let's admit it. We want what we want, when we want it, where we want it, and how we want it. Boys and girls, you know what I mean. You know exactly what I mean. And sometimes we're tempted to pray that way as well. Lord, please give me a new bicycle or a new video game or a new car or get me into a specific college or give me a bigger house or a better paying job or healing from my sickness. You see, it's not just the young boys and girls here who can be selfish. But all of God's children can be that way no matter what age we are. This is what James was talking about in chapter 4, verse 3, when he says, when you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. wrong motives in a selfish way for self when it is God's glory and God's will that must come first. As well, we are to come to God in faith. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing who we are in Him, knowing that we are received of God only in Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 21, verse 22, if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. And James 1, beginning of verse 5, says, If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt. We are also to come and trust. Trusting that indeed God will be faithful to His promises, especially His promise of the text before us. 1 John 5, 14 and 15. We are to trust God because of who He is. Because He is both able and willing to give us what we need. And those who come to God are to be those who abide in Christ. Who find shelter only in Christ. John 15, verse 7 says, If you remain or abide in Me and My words remain or abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. Wonderful promises here, huh? Wonderful promises. And it means also that our lives are to be lives of obedience to God as those who abide in Christ. God does not hear sinners. As the former blind man said to the Pharisees after being healed by Christ, it is foolishness for one to knowingly live in sin and expect God to hear and answer their prayers. It won't happen. In fact, what does the psalmist say about the fool? The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And it is also God's will that we pray in Jesus' name. Jesus makes that clear in the Gospel of John. He says, The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. It's only for the sake of Jesus Christ and His saving sacrifice that God will give to us His good and perfect gifts. Beloved, in this week of self-examination, may we take the time to truly reflect upon and examine our personal prayer life. Are my motives correct? Do I truly believe? Am I abiding in Christ? Do I desire to be obedient to God? Do I trust that God will hear me for the sake of the name of Jesus? Now, in some respects, all that we have said so far about the character of one who prays is just a sketch of God's will with regard to how the believer is to come to God in prayer, with regard to that which is to characterize the one who prays. But we might also ask then, what are we to pray for? Especially after what our text says in these other verses that we have said that guarantees that it will be given to you. Whatever you ask for in prayer, you will receive. What are we to pray for? What is it that I may pray for? Of course, we can't begin to compile a list of all that God says in His Word. That's a job for each one of us as we read and meditate upon the Word of God. Yet, God's Word is the foundation. He tells us exactly how we are to pray. What we may pray for in confidence. God's will includes His commands and His promises. We are to pray for the strength and the desire to be obedient to His commands. and we may pray that God would fulfill His promises. As the Lord's Prayer teaches us, we are to pray for God's glory, that His name be hallowed, that His kingdom come, that His will be done. We are to pray for forgiveness of sins and to have the assurance of forgiveness which God has promised to those who turn to Him in repentance and faith. David says in Psalm 32, verse 5, Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and You forgave the guilt of my sin. And as we recited this morning from Psalm 130, there is forgiveness with God that He may be feared. As well, we are to pray for sanctification in our lives. Cleansing from the pollution of sin. Psalm 51 verse 10 says, Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. And Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 3, it is God's will that you should be sanctified. And this sanctification includes Paul's prayer for the Colossian believers when he says in Colossians 1, verses 9-12, and listen to all that God promises, all in these few verses, what we may pray for in confidence, and God will give. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of the kingdom of light. In James 1, verse 5, it says, we are to pray for wisdom. Pray for wisdom. We may also pray for the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You see, all that God expects of His people, He will give for those who desire it. All these things that we have listed and so much more are included in God's will. Indeed, God's promises, God promises to care for and to protect His people and therefore we may confidently pray, give us this day our daily bread. As well, Psalm 91 verse 4 says, He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Beloved, God's will includes being faithful to His people. We may pray in confidence for God's faithfulness. In Isaiah 55, the Lord says, My word will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I send it. How awesome it is that every time god's word is read or preached we can pray confidently that that word will do exactly what god has planned for it to do god's will is perfect it's for his glory and it is for the good of his people and that's the confidence that we are to have that we may have of his will his will is to be our desire and when our desire when we find that our desire is against His revealed will. Then it's not God who must change in order to satisfy us. But it is our desire that must change to be brought in line with God's will. Someone has said to know God's will is to be able to pray with boldness. And the opposite is also true. To not know God's will means that one cannot pray with boldness. God gives to us His Word that which we need to pray intelligently. Well, what about then praying for the things that we're not sure about? After all, we are commanded to bring our requests before God. How are we to pray for the things that God does not directly mention or directly promise us in Scripture? I mean, is it wrong to pray for healing? Is it wrong to pray for a new bike? Or a different job? Or a million dollars? Is it wrong to ask for the things of this life? I say absolutely not. It's not wrong to ask for those things. But remember, all of our requests are to be governed by faith and a proper motive. And again, beloved, that motive must be the glory of God and His will and it must be for our true good. You see, with regard to God's plan from eternity, we don't know what God's plan is until it unfolds daily. We know that He has each of our days mapped out from the beginning of time, but in many respects, we don't know what it includes until those days unfold. But James reminds us how we are to pray with regard to the things that we can't be sure about. In verses 13-15, Now listen, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money, why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. Now, we could talk about many examples that fit with this, but I think probably the most vivid example that hits more of us, or the majority of us, is illness. Illness. How do we pray with regard to illness? We don't know if it is God's plan to physically heal and restore a loved one. We don't know. Indeed, we pray for healing. But only if it is God's will. But in connection, beloved, our confidence is that in connection with those who are suffering with illness, we know that God's will includes drawing His own closer to Himself through the difficult times. James says, draw near to God. He will draw near to you. God's will includes giving comfort and peace and granting a trusting spirit. His will includes His grace, which is sufficient for all of our needs. We can pray for those things in confidence. God will grant it. Boys and girls, you don't know if it is God's will that you get the exact birthday gift that you wanted the most. But if you ask, God will give you happiness and contentment with whatever your gift may be. How can we know? Because He calls us to be content and to give thanks in every situation. And again, that which God expects of His people, He will grant to those who ask Him. Beloved, we can't be sure that God's will includes giving to us all that we want in this life, but it is God's will that He give to us all that we need for this life and the next. May our prayer be that God would bend our will in shape with His will and that we seek God's will, that we embrace God's will and that we desire to live according to God's will. Well, finally then, the confidence of prayer for the child of God includes confidence that God hears. Verse 4 ends, He hears us. And then 15, and if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we ask of Him. Obviously, verse 15 cannot be divorced from verse 14 like many have done. And then they have used this verse to test God. God said that He would do it, therefore I'm going to test Him. I'm going to try it out. Only then to be utterly disappointed when things didn't turn out like they had asked. Very simply, whatever the child of God asks for that is according to God's will. God hears that request. And the idea of the word hears here is that God doesn't simply listen to that request and take it under advisement, but God takes action. He gives what is requested. And that's why John can say we have what we asked of Him. And notice the scope of what John says. Whatever we ask, unlimited, according to God's will. Beloved, that's our assurance. Paul says of Christ in Ephesians 3, verse 12, in Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. You see, God will not hear those who reject Jesus Christ and prove that they don't belong to Him. And there are times when God will not hear the requests of His people when those requests are not according to His will. You see, sometimes God says no to His children when He will not hear our prayer because our requests are not according to His will. That's His no to those requests. And beloved, I think each one of us knows from experience that very seldom do we pray according to the will of God. Praise God, though, that He doesn't give us absolutely whatever we ask for because whether we realize it or not, much of what we ask for would be for our harm and not for our true good. Yet, what a blessing that we have when we ask of Him according to His will. We have it right now. But now, how do we understand that? You see, we all know that at the time of prayer, things don't just pop into our possession out of nowhere. Indeed, this is a mystery, beloved, but I agree with those who say that the answer to our petition is not dependent upon whether or not we have personally observed the answer. Sometimes the answers come immediately. Other answers come later. Still, other answers may not be recognized in our lifetimes, especially as we might pray for a child or a loved one. We might pray for their salvation. We might never know that in this lifetime. Yet, in God's plan, He immediately grants our requests. He gives His favorable answer to them that are according to His will. Beloved, what a precious gift prayer is. Did we understand just how precious? Boys and girls, young people, do you understand just how precious a gift prayer is? And this confidence is ours all and only for the sake of Jesus Christ. You know, in this life, there are many who crave the attention and crave to be known by those who are popular or who are important, but the child of God can come into the presence of the One who holds the universe in His hands, who will hear and grant the prayers of His children prayed according to His will. That confidence belongs to all those who repent of their sins and belong to their faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Beloved, praise God that His will includes protecting His children. That His will includes providing for His children. And that His will includes preparing His children and to live with Him in eternity. Praise God that indeed He will accomplish all this. Beloved, pray then in confidence in Jesus' name. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, in many respects we don't understand this mystery called prayer. We know that so often we pray according to our own desires. But Father, may it be more and more that we would understand as You fill us with Your Spirit that we might understand Your most holy will. That we would pray in a way that glorifies Your holy name first of all. That is according to Your will. And that is indeed for our true good. And Father, indeed we praise You that You do not give to us all that we ask for. We thank You that You protect us, You shield us, and You guide us even from ourselves. You do not even allow us to harm ourselves. And for that, we give You thanksgiving and praise that You always have our best interest in mind. Father, draw us closer to Yourself that we might glorify You in a way that is pleasing to Your holy name. In Jesus' name alone we pray these things. Amen.