Sermons

No Jesus, No Peace. Know Jesus, Know Peace

February 15, 2019 Preacher: Gareth Franks Series: Letters of John - Knowing, Walking & Living the Truth

Topic: Foundations, The Gospel Scripture: 1 John 5:6–13

Home Group Study - Sermon Date: 15 February 2019

Text: 1 John 5:6-13

Opening Discussion: Our culture and today’s generation, is obsessed with personal experiences. Music is a popular and powerful medium that influences and affects our feelings. If you had a personal theme song, what would it be? Explain how it makes you feel.

OBSERVATION - What does God’s word say?

Skeptics frequently allege that conversion to Christ is a purely subjective experience. If you say that Jesus Christ changed your life, the skeptic will reply, “That’s great for you, but it doesn’t prove that Christianity is true for everyone else. Buddhism changed Richard Gere’s life. Scientology changed Tom Cruise’s life. Cabalistic Judaism seems to have changed Madonna’s life. So if you want to look at changed lives, there is plenty of evidence that Christianity is not the only religious truth out there.”

How do you counter such arguments? There is value in subjective, inner assurance of the truth of the gospel for believers. But we need a more sure foundation for our faith than our subjective experience alone provides.

What are your observations? Compare the following passages?

Read: 

  • Matthew 17:1-8
  • 2 Peter 1:13-21

MEANING - What does God’s word mean?

Read: 

  • 1 John 5:6-13

The key verse in this epistle is 1 John 5:13. John said, “I write these things to you who believe... that you may know that you have eternal life”. John was not just an apostle but also an apologist—someone who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something. As his letter drew to a close, his goal was to make the truth clear, especially amongst the false teachings that were being spread at that time. John wasn’t relaying some inner, subjective vision or philosophy. He was telling about his objective experience with Jesus Christ. You can’t get much more objective than seeing, hearing, and touching! Jesus Christ is God’s witness to us through the apostles who spent three years with Him. In our text, John comes back to this objective witness with which he opened this letter. He wants us to have a sure foundation for our faith. Authentic Christian faith rests on God’s testimony to the person of Jesus Christ.

Believing God’s trustworthy witness to His Son gives us a sure foundation for our faith.

In chapter 5:6-9, John shows that God has given a trustworthy threefold witness to His Son. Then in chapter 5:10-13, he shows that believing God’s witness to His Son gives us a sure foundation for our faith, with the aim (5:13) “that you may know that you have eternal life.”

APPLICATION - How must I change?

  • Is there a Truth to be believed?

Read 1 John 1:10. How is God made a liar according to this verse compared to how God is made a liar in 1 John 5:10? What do we need to understand about ourselves and about God from these verses?

  • Is there an Attitude to be fostered?

How do John’s words in 1 John 5:10–12 address the modern idea that all religions are basically the same and lead to God? (See John 14:6.)

  •  Is there a Behavior to be changed?

The truth about Jesus helps us believe and also persevere. “Whoever has the Son has life” (1 John 5:12). The gospel really is this simple.

  • What are some ways you tend to complicate or add to the gospel?
  • How does the truth about Jesus help you daily?

Conclusion

While we all may have experienced difficult circumstances that effect how we feel, we need to guard our hearts and minds from doubting what the scriptures say about who Jesus is and his gift of eternal life. Our feelings will always be subjective to our circumstances, but there is nothing more sure than the Word of God. John Stott said, “Unbelief is not a misfortune to be pitied; it is a sin to be deplored. Its sinfulness lies in the fact that it contradicts the word of the one true God and thus attributes falsehood to Him.” What Stott is saying is what the apostle has already said, if someone does not believe God’s testimony about His son, they are calling God a liar.

God’s testimony to Jesus (recorded in the scriptures) is the foundation of our faith. Christianity is not just a psychological experience. It rests on this solid witness.

  • Do you believe this witness?
  • How do you know that you have peace with God? Because you felt it or because you trust God’s Word when He says that you are Justified by Faith (Romans 5:1)?
  • How do you know that you are under no condemnation (Romans 8:1)? Because you felt it or because you trust God’s Word when He says that He has forgiven you (1 John 1:9)?
  • Identify three to five people in your life who do not yet know Jesus. Write down their names as a reminder to pray for these individuals this week.

 

Prayer Points:

  1. Pray for NLC to know they have eternal life in Christ.
  2. Pray for NLC to persevere in their faith in Christ through the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
  3. Pray that NLC would be emboldened to share their faith in Christ with others.

More in Letters of John - Knowing, Walking & Living the Truth

June 14, 2019

A Good Example

May 31, 2019

A Bad Example

May 24, 2019

Together for the Gospel