Prayer: Lord God, we now are beginning to understand what it means to live in your light. We want the truth. We want to walk in your light. We desire to be your light in the world. We want to be an example to nonbelievers and other believers who might be struggling. We want to be your witness with zeal but without being intrusive. Give us opportunities to reach out to open hearts who are suffering that we might be an example of Your joy and love. Amen.
Main Scripture:
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 (1 John 5:14-15).
Associated Scriptures:
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians, NKJV, 5:14-22).
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11).
Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (James 4:7-8, 10, NKJV).
Correlative Quotes:
Our only safe course-and may the Spirit of God grant us grace to follow it-is to come to God as we actually are, and ask Him to deal with us, in Christ Jesus, according to our actual condition.
If we are to walk with God at all it must be in the light, and if we once walk in the light with him…we shall see sin in ourselves and daily feel the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us. Only on the footing of sin daily confessed and pardoned can there be any fellowship between us and the eternal God this side heaven, for that footing is the only one consistent with the facts of the case.
Let us daily ask the Lord to keep us in a truthful spirit, admitting the truth, both concerning ourselves and our Lord, feeling its power, and desiring to be taught still more of it. Let us pray for Him to deal with us not according to our suppositions but according to the fact and let us entreat Him never to allow us to rejoice in fancied blessings, such as might satisfy our proud, half-stupefied conscience, but to give to us the real blessings of genuine forgiveness, and effectual cleansing from all unrighteousness.[1] – Charles Spurgeon
In the preceding context, the subject is mainly obedience to the will of God (vv. 3b-13). John's point is that whenever we need help, but particularly help in obeying God, we can "ask" for it, in prayer, confidently (cf. 2:28; 3:21; 4:17). He conditioned the promise "whatever" (v.15) with "according to His will" (v. 14). God "hears" all prayers, of course, because He is omniscient, knows everything. However, He "hears" them in the sense that He hears them favorably—because we are His children asking for help to do His will. He will always grant that kind of request.[2] – Thomas Constable
The first condition in true prayer is to be sure that it is according to the will of God.—It is not difficult to do this when we base prayer on a promise. And this is what we should do to secure definiteness and assurance. There is nothing that pleases our Father more in His praying children than that they should bring His promises to Him for fulfillment, saying, ''Do as Thou hast said." But in cases where there is no promise to guide us, we shall discover His will as we pray.[3] – Robert Hawker
Study:
Introduction
Obedience requires that we live according to God’s will for our lives. In this same vein, Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath and the Jews wanted to kill Him for breaking the Law. Jesus gave them this answer in John 5:19, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” We have a responsibility to help others even when it is not expedient.
Praying in the Will of God
To be obedient means to live in the will of God. When we act according to our own will we fail or even if we do succeed, our experience of victory is shallow or short-lived. However, when we take action within the will of God, He blesses us and we experience great, lasting fulfillment. 1 John 5:14 says that if we are to have our prayers answered, we must be in the will of God when we ask. We do this by asking the Spirit of God to direct our thoughts and word our prayers to be in God’s perfect will for our lives. God’s promise is that He will direct our prayers.
According to his will, By this expression, he meant, by the way, to remind us what is the right way or rule of praying, even when men subject their own wishes to God. For though God has promised to do whatsoever his people may ask, yet he does not allow them an unbridled liberty to ask whatever may come to their minds, but he has at the same time prescribed to them a law according to which they are to pray. And doubtless nothing is better for us than this restriction; for if it was allowed to every one of us to ask what he pleased, and if God were to indulge us in our wishes, it would be to provide very badly for us. For what may be expedient we know not; nay, we boil over with corrupt and hurtful desires.
But God supplies a twofold remedy, lest we should pray otherwise than according to what his own will has prescribed; for he teaches us by his word what he would have us to ask, and he has also set over us his Spirit as our guide and ruler, to restrain our feelings, so as not to suffer them to wander beyond due bounds. For what or how to pray, we know not, says Paul, but the Spirit helps our infirmity, and excites in us unutterable groans. (Romans 8:26.) We ought also to ask the mouth of the Lord to direct and guide our prayers; for God in his promises has fixed for us, as it has been said, the right way of praying.[4] – John Calvin
Avoiding Disobedience
Avoiding disobedience can be a difficult task when we try to accomplish it in our own power. Walking in the light suggests that we move forward in God’s will (Proverbs 3:5-6) and as we go the Spirit of God directs us (Psalms 16:9). As we veer toward disobedience, the Spirit convicts us (John 16:8-11) and through confession (1 John 1:9), we return to the right path (Ephesians 5:17).
Summary Statement:
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:18-21).
Living in the light is a reflection of obedience. Our leader is God, our example is Jesus, and our mentor is the Spirit of God. God has established the expectations, Jesus lived out those expectations here on earth, and the Holy Spirit is within us to convict us of our sin and to guide us through God’s word. Conviction keeps us in line.
The Word helps us to learn where that line is drawn. Jesus said, through the Apostle John, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth” (1 John 1:6).
If we have received the light through salvation, then it is our desire to obey God and grow in Him. If we say that we are born again but walk in the darkness of this world, in disobedience, with no desire to grow, we are liars. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Godliness is a way everlasting because no circumstances can by any possibility necessitate any change in it. The man who lives by policy is like a sailor on a gusty day, or who has a foul wind against him, and must tack about to reach first this point, and then the other, and makes but slow progress, after The Way Everlasting Sermon #903 Tell someone today how much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 15 4 4 all, in the direction which he really wishes to pursue. But the man who has the life of God and follows the way of the truth of God is like the steamship which plows its road straight on, wind or tide notwithstanding! Why needs it to tack? It bears its force within itself and is not dependent upon the extraneous circumstances of winds and waves! Happy is that man who is in this condition![5] – Charles Spurgeon
Lesson within the Lesson:
What is obedience?
How is sanctification (to make pure or holy) and obedience linked?
What part does the Spirit of God play in obedience and is it critical to God’s plan for our lives?
What part do we play in obedience?
[1] Charles Spurgeon, Honest Dealing with God, Public Domain, 1875, spurgeongems.org/vols19-21/chs1241.pdf, P. 2
[2] Thomas Constable, Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable, Ibid, P. 113.
[3] Robert Hawker, The Poor Man’s New Testament Commentary, Volume 9, Ibid, P. 235.
[4] John Calvin, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles URL: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom45.html Author(s): Calvin, John (1509-1564) (Alternative) (Translator) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library Source: Rights: Public Domain, P. 164.
[5] Charles Spurgeon, The Way Everlasting, spurgeongems.org/vols13-15/chs903. pdf, P. 4.
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