Believers can possess confidence and boldness in prayer, at the Lord's return, and on the day of judgment because of their relationship with Jesus Christ. This assurance is grounded in four key certainties: that believers will be like Christ when he appears, that they have passed from death to life, that they are of the truth, and that Christ abides in them. These truths, rooted in God's Word, are not speculative but are facts that transform believers' lives, leading to purity, love for others, and unwavering faith. The sermon emphasizes that this abiding presence of Christ in believers is the ultimate source of their strength and should result in lives that are a challenge and encouragement to the world.
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I have a very kind song leader this morning. He determined to give me all of my time, but please don't leave the instruments. Because there's one chorus here, I'd like you to sing, and we've been in the process of learning it. I think you've pretty well got it now. It's a new life, oh, how he changed me. And so we sing that chorus just before we read in an epistle with which we've grown very familiar. in the last few days. Number twenty-eight on the street, it's a new life, or how he changed me. All right.
It's a new life, oh how he changed me a new life, he rearranged me a new life, richer and fuller, it's a wonderful, wonderful life, it's a big life. Oh how it filled me a big life Oh how it thrilled me a big life Deeper and wider it's a wonderful, wonderful life Gone is the old life and gone are its chains Gone are the wrinkles and gone are the stains Gone is the darkness and gone is the night I have found Jesus the truth and the life.
It's a great life. We're not with you. It's a great life. You'll never lose it. It's a great life. Why don't you choose it? It's a wonderful, wonderful life. Now we sing that again. I'll only have thirty-two and a half minutes to preach. That's long enough. Let's sing it again now. Come on, if you didn't know it, you know it now. It's a new life. Oh, how he changed me, a new life. He rearranged me a new life. Richer and fuller, it's a wonderful, wonderful life.
It's a big life. Oh, how it thrills me a big life. Oh, how it thrills me a big life. Deeper and wider is the wonderful, wonderful life. Gone is the old life and gone are its chains. Gone are the wrinkles and gone are the stains. Gone is the darkness and gone is the night. I have found Jesus the truth and the life. It's a great life.
Do not refuse. It's a great life. You'll never lose it. A great life. Why don't you choose it? It's a wonderful, wonderful life. And you make a wonderful, wonderful choir. That's good singing this morning. It's always an astonishment to me. when we arrive at this week in the conference to find the congregation still as large as in the past weeks. Without any kind of pseudo-modesty or mock-modesty, most of the folk at the park hear my voice so often, I'm surprised that when my week rolls around, they all turn out.
But it's very encouraging to me, and I sure do appreciate it. Let's turn to First John. Does that sound familiar to you? Mr. Gunn has been in First John a whole week, and you will recall that several times he made mention of a word that he's found three times here in this epistle. Once in chapter two, once in chapter three, and once in chapter four. Now, mind you, in our English Bible... It's translated with one word twice and another word once. Have you got it?
You remember it? It's the word confidence or boldness. I don't know whether it puzzles you that the translator should have taken that word and on two occasions translated it confidence and one occasion translated it boldness. It's the self-same word. But you know that happens from time to time, I think of a word in the Greek that's translated sometimes pilgrim and sometimes stranger, the same word in the Greek. But it's because these two thoughts are expressed by the Greek word and we don't have an English word that does them justice.
So the translators take the one thought at one point and the other thought at the other point. And I think that's good because, you know, there are some people that have confidence but they don't have boldness. And there are some people that have boldness and they don't have confidence. They just talk in a blustery fashion boldly, but they have no ground for their confidence. Now, if you look at those three instances, and I don't intend to preach about them this morning, they've already been mentioned several times, but it's a very wonderful thing when a man can speak about having confidence in the place of prayer and that's what John does on one of these occasions and it's a very wonderful thing when a man can speak about having confidence at the hour of the Lord's return and that again is what John makes reference to and it's a very very wonderful thing when a man can have confidence when he's face to face with the day of judgment.
And those are the three areas in which John speaks about confidence and boldness. Now there's a reason why believers can be bold in the place of prayer. There's a reason why the believer can be bold at the hour of the Lord's return. And there's a reason why he can be bold even face to face with the day of judgment. And that is because of what he has and what he knows he has in the person of the Lord Jesus. Let's look at chapter three, shall we, and notice a little expression that's found four times in the chapter.
Verse two says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We know. Now this is something we are not speculating about. It's something we are not just wondering about. It's not something about which we have... As Gilbert and Sullivan said, the tiniest iota, the smallest amount, no possible probable shadow of doubt, no possible doubt whatever.
We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Then verse three says, And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself. even as he is pure. Now look at verse thirteen in the same chapter. Marble not my brethren if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. We know that we have passed from death unto life. And once again, there's not a shadow of doubt about it.
How verse nineteen? And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence There's one of those instances, toward God, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. We know that we are of the truth.
And finally, in the last verse, verse twenty-four, he that keepeth his commandments, dwelleth in him and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us. We know that he abideth in us. Now this is why we have confidence in the quiet place. This is why we have confidence when we contemplate the return of the Lord Jesus. And this is why we are not at all fearful when we think about the day of judgment because we know these things. Now I've mentioned him to some of you in the past, but there may be some of you who are not acquainted, never have been acquainted with Dr.
W. W. Borum. How many of you have heard of Dr. Borum? Let me see. How many of you have never heard of Dr. Borum? Well, he's a man with a very unfortunate name because, well, he's dead now, but he was an author. Can you imagine a more unfortunate name for an author than Borum? And yet his books were anything but Borum. I mean, they were anything but Borum and they did anything but bore the readers. Even his titles were rather striking. tuffs from a comet's tail.
Now what does that signify? The other side of the hill. Doesn't that sound fascinating? And so we could go on. In fact, here was a man who stated that when an author had written thirty-six books, he had written himself out and his authorship was at an end. He wrote thirty-six books and then he wrote a thirty-seventh. And you know what he called it? I forgot to say. And then he took off on a second lease of life and wrote another thirty-six. And every one of them, very interesting and profitable reading.
Next time you're browsing in a second-hand bookstore, take his name with you and look for some of his books. You'll read them with real profit. They are light reading. with a spiritual challenge and application that is very very obvious in every instance. I remember him starting one story when he moved into a hotel for a series of meetings and in the course of putting away his stuff he opened a drawer and in that drawer he found a bobby pin. That was all it took to set him up on a line of thinking And he produced a book as a result of that bobby pin.
Now, I hope I've made him attractive to you. You ought to read Dr. W. W. Borum. Now, one of his books he tells about a group of explorers who set out toward the South Seas to charter an area that had never been chartered. It was a long way to travel, and their ship, of course, was a sailing ship. And so it was very well planned. They put all of their equipment together and they started on their journey and were hit with misfortune right away. However, they struggled on, storms delaying their arrival at the site. In the end, they didn't reach it.
And they had with great difficulty to turn around and begin again for home. It was obvious because the bad weather persisted that there was a likelihood their ship would found her. And so they decided that they would jettison all of their equipment that they possibly could. Now, among the things with which they had equipped themselves was a horse. And they decided they couldn't afford to tolerate his weight seeing that the ship was in such grave danger. But however, they didn't want him to drown, and so with difficulty they pulled toward a shore that they didn't know, didn't recognize, wasn't chartered, and they put him into the water and watched him as he struck out for the land.
They did get back home. And after several years, they decided the job still had to be done and so a new crew was arranged a new ship was equipped and off they went and this time fortune smiled on them they arrived where they were making for did the job that they had to do and when it was finished had time on their hands when they were sailing home they suddenly saw on the horizon the island toward which the horse had pointed his head and wondering what had happened to him they put up a long boat and some of them set out for the shore they pulled up at the beach pulled the boat up on the beach believe it or not they were greeted by the horse still alive and fat and flourishing but you know the thing that staggered these men was this although the island was only about a mile and a half long and less than that wide as they explored it they could find no evidence that the horse had ever been to either end of the island and hadn't
even gone across the width of it the reason being there was plenty to eat and he had just stayed right where he had scrambled up out of the water and the author said how different is the horse or was the horse from the men who jettisoned him. I suppose that's one of the things that makes man such a fascinating creature because he's never satisfied with the knowledge that he has. He always wants a little bit more. He's so restless. He has to fathom what exists around him. Men cannot view the land without longing to explore it.
They can't look at the sea without coveting the regions beyond it. They can't even look into the sky without wanting to grow intimate with the stars. That's how man is made. Now this craving for knowledge has brought into the world some of its choicest blessings. It's also been responsible for some of its worst tragedies. Men don't always put their knowledge to good use. But you know the Bible tells us there are two kinds of knowledge. One the Bible calls vain and one the Bible calls good.
Concerning vain knowledge, Proverbs tells us that the craving for it leads to sin. Now we know that's true. when Eve saw the trees that was desirous from the point of view of getting to know a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the forbidden fruit. She craved that knowledge of which Satan spoke and it led her into sin. The Bible tells us when we have that kind of knowledge, every time we add to it, we only increase our sorrow. He that increases that sorrow or that knowledge says the Bible increases sorrow.
So the craving for it leads to sin, the acquisition of it leads to presumption, when Eve and Adam took of the forbidden fruit God said, now I've got to shut them off from the tree of life lest they put forth their hands and touch that. Having acquired knowledge they were likely to be presumptuous. Then having gotten it, the more it grew, the more sorrowful they grew, says the Word of God. He that increases that sorrow, that knowledge increases sorrow. Finally, it's obvious from the Word of God that possession by that kind of vain knowledge leads to destruction because we read, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
vain knowledge. The word of God says of that people who have it are ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. But on the other hand there is good knowledge. And again the Bible speaks about good knowledge. It says it's pleasant of a soul and it tells us it is a source, a continual source of strength. good knowledge now it seems to me that good knowledge again is divided into two there is a progressive knowledge a knowledge that you keep on adding to and it keeps on growing the more you read your Bible the more you progress in truth and the more good knowledge is imparted to you and becomes yours that's progressive knowledge And then there is what we might call comprehensive knowledge, which is really just simply the appreciation of fact.
And I've said all of that to come to this. These four things about which we read we know are all comprehensive. We know this. We know that and we know the other. These are facts that we can grasp, hold on to and make them our very own and that we need never lose. Did you notice when I was reading to you that one of these we knows has to do with the future. One of these we knows has to do with the past. And one of these we knows has to do with the present. Did you observe that as we read? We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Now that's something we know about the future. And then it says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Now there's something we know about the past. and then it says we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him there's something we know about the present I have an idea that in their honest moments there are many many men in the world who'd like to be able to know about these things and to be able to say I am on the right side I wonder if there's somebody here who cannot say, I know that when Christ appears, I'm going to be like him, I'm going to be with him.
You can't say that. Because the word of God says that this is the prerogative of those who know the Lord Jesus. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, the dead in Christ. shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. But that's only referring to the believer, to those who are born again, to those who have been saved, to those who have received the Lord Jesus and been born into God's family. That's the word of assurance only for the children of God. So the question is, are you a child of God?
Are you born again? Are you saved? If you are, you can say, this is what we know about the future. I'm going to come back to that. Then he says, we know that we have passed from death unto life. Do you know that? Is there somebody here who has some doubt about whether he is sins or forgiven, whether he is at peace with God, whether he really and truly has that right relationship that alone can guarantee him a place in heaven. If you're not ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus, and if you haven't yet passed from death to life, you cannot say, with the believers of whom John was speaking, we know that we are of the truth.
I hope that doesn't sound presumptuous to you. I want to explain it in just a moment or two. Let's go back to the first. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. There are three things here that are very, very obvious. The first is that he shall appear. Do you realize that the return of the Lord Jesus is the very next event on God's calendar? There is absolutely no prophecy. that remains unfulfilled to prevent the Lord Jesus coming back again today. Now that wasn't always so, you know. When Peter was a young man, the Lord Jesus said to him, When thou art old, another shall carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
So all the believers knew the Lord wasn't coming till Peter was an old man. He had to grow old. That was a prophecy. that for those believers had to interfere with their expectation of the Lord's coming. But there's nothing that remains unfulfilled today. Jesus could come back today. He shall appear. That should scare you just a little if you're not saved. Because if he did come back, he would leave behind for judgment. All of those who have heard the gospel and turned away from it. which includes you because you have heard that God loves you.
You have heard that Jesus died for you. You have been reminded that he stands with open arms and says, come unto me and I'll give you rest. But you haven't come. You haven't responded. Jesus could come today if you're wise, you'll get ready. That's the first thing it says, he shall appear. And then it says, we shall see him. referring to the people of God. And nothing can prevent our seeing the Lord Jesus when he rends the heavens and comes down. The trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more. The morning will break eternal, bright and fair, and the saved verse shall gather over on the other shore when the roll is called up yonder.
I'll be there. I'm sure of it. Not because I'm any better than you. Not because I deserve it any more than you. But because I have staked my all upon the work that Jesus did for me when he died upon the cross. He's coming and we're going to see him. But there's a third thing. We're going to be like him. Now when he comes, that'll put an end to all of our perplexities. All the things we don't understand. All the things we've been wondering about. All the things that have puzzled us will suddenly be brought to an end. He comes. That'll put an end to our perplexities.
We're going to see him. That'll put an end to our blindness. So many things we don't see these days. So much that he's blurred. So much that is really... beyond reach of our sight but not then when we see him we'll see everything else that'll put an end to our blindness and we shall be like him that'll put an end to our imperfections remember that girl I've told some of you about before her testimony at an open air meeting was I'm not what I want to be or I'm not what I ought to be I'm not what I want to be I'm not what I'm going to be but praise God I'm not what I was in spite of the fact that we have to say, I'm not what I ought to be.
It isn't always going to be like that. When we are changed into His likeness, that will put an end to our imperfections. No wonder believers look into the future with great anticipation and joy. He shall appear, we shall see Him, and we shall be changed into His likeness. And all of this we know. Now, John is very practical. He says, He that hath his hope in him purifies himself. John is never so heavenly minded as to be no earthly use. He never has his head in the clouds without having his feet firmly planted on the ground.
And here he is speaking about the coming of the Lord Jesus. But he says, Believer, that ought to have a practical impact on your life. He that hath his hope in him purifies himself. and you'll notice that that assurance concerning the future is associated with hope which is one of the three cardinal virtues now the second is this we know that we have passed from death unto life now this is something we know about the past verily I verily I say unto you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me have everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life.
Like the preacher in the open air once said, H-A-T-H spells gothic. We are not looking forward to having eternal life. We are presently enjoying it. Because as the children of God, God's life has been imparted to us. It isn't something we get in the future. It's something that became ours at the moment of our new birth. We became the possessors of God's life, and God's life never comes to an end. That's why Jesus said, He that believeth in me shall never die. The body may go to the grave, but the believer doesn't die. He has eternal life, the life of God. We have passed, we have already passed from death unto life.
And this says the word of God, we know. We've been transferred from the broad road to the narrow, from the kingdom of Satan to the family of God. We've left a condition of darkness for a state of light. We've turned our back on death. And now we have what a London businessman called in a book that he wrote, Life with a capital L. Somebody said, I don't like your title, Mr. Gleg. What's wrong with my title, he said. The Christian life said his... complaintant, the complainant, the Christian life is more than life with a capital L. It's life with a capital L and a capital I and a capital F and a capital E because it's a capital life altogether.
I don't think he was wrong. We pass from death onto life, that kind of life. If the sun shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. That's the abundant life. But again, that which is practical in John comes to the surface and he says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Now that's another one of the cardinal virtues and he links his second tense with that second cardinal virtue. The coming of the Lord Jesus is a hope that makes us concerned about purity in our lives. Knowing that we have passed from death unto life is something else that affects our living.
The evidence of it is that we love the brethren. Are you a loving kind of believer? The Word of God says, this is the evidence that you've passed from death unto life, love. A drunken man once pushed his way through an open air crowd, and if I surprise you by talking about open air meetings, the first ten years of my Of mine in the work were all with open-air preaching. So I still have a soft spot for the open-air. This drunken man had been stirred up by something the open-air preacher had been saying as he powerfully preached and he couldn't stand it any longer. He pushed his way through the crowd and he stood in front of the preacher swaying on his heels and his toes, hardly able to stand up, but so stirred up he said, preacher, I die for Christ.
The preacher looked down at the drunken man and he said, he hasn't asked you to die for him. He's asked you to trust him and live for him. You don't seem to be making a very good job of it. We love, it's an evidence of having passed from death unto life, a very practical thing. And then we read this word that sounds as though it's presumptuous. We know that we are of the truth. Ye are the men, and wisdom will die with you. There are people who think we are very presumptuous because we say, what I have is the right thing.
The way I'm going is the right way. And what I have is what is all important. But we don't have to apologize for taking these words on our lips. We know that we are of the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth. And the life we are of the truth because we are of Christ. Bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, eternally united to him and part of him. Of course we are of the truth because we are of Christ. And it's something that we are as positive about as the fact that Jesus is coming and that we have passed from death unto life.
We are of the truth. Now the word of God here says we know that we are the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. He links this we know, this knowledge, this assurance with the third of the cardinal virtues which is faith. So we have hope and we have love and we have faith. We have confidence toward God. all of these things we know but says John knowing them should make a difference to us that's why we sang the chorus it's a new life all how he changed me if you haven't been changed you better begin wondering whether or not you have a new life after all the Bible tells us when we love we've got a loving indeed not just in word We've got to love in truth, not just in tongue.
We've not only got to talk about it, not just got to talk about it, but we've got to practice it and we'll do it if we realize that we are of Christ. So we have three tenses and we have three cardinal virtues, but we still have another we know. We've run out of tenses and we've run out of cardinal virtues, but we haven't run out of we know. But that's important because it says, here's the last one, we know that He abideth in us. Now that's the secret.
You see, that word abideth is a word that takes in the future and the present and the past. And it rolls all the three up in one and simply says, abide us. As the future, so the present, as the present, so the past, and so they're all rolled up into one. And then when it says we know that He abideth in us, in the He, we have hope, the embodiment of hope, the embodiment of love, the embodiment of faith, everything again rolled up into one, He abideth.
So there's no excuse in our lives as believers for any kind of defeat. It comes, but we can never excuse it. If Christ abides in us, if there is never a moment that he leaves us, and if he abides in us in all of his power and sufficiency, then our lives should be constantly lives that are a challenge to those who are not saved around us. An encouragement to all those who are saved around us. Our lives should be constantly productive and happy and an impact because Christ abides us in us. We've got to ask ourselves, is there a lack of purity in my life?
Is there a lack of love in my life? Is there a lack of faith in my life? Lack of purity is what ruins individual testimony. And lack of love is what spoils church fellowship. And lack of faith is what hampers God's working. Because we know about the future, and because we know about the past, and because we know about the present, and because we can say, He abideth in us, then today we ought to do a little assessing again and ask why is it that our lives are missing the mark why is it that we are not accomplishing what God intends us to accomplish nothing wrong with him it's obviously something that needs adjusting in our lives that's a tough way to begin a new week shall we pray Our Heavenly Father, very earnestly and very sincerely this morning,
we pray that you will use this week to speak to our hearts about ourselves, to speak to our hearts about our Lord Jesus Christ, to speak to our hearts about others and our influence upon them. We want this to be a very happy week. We wanted Lord to be a week of challenge. We wanted to be a week in which we shall the more fall in love with the person of the Lord Jesus and the more readily allow him to have all of us. May that be the way the week will work out for we ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus.