The God of Light and Love: Kept Safe by Christ
Date: 2/19/23
Preacher: Trent Chambers
Scripture: 1 John 5:13-19
Main Sermon Points:
1. Our hearts: cautious, callous, careless, or CONFIDENT?
2. Three truths that move the heart to confidence in the presence of God:
• Those who believe are BORN OF GOD (v.18)
• Those who believe are KEPT BY GOD (v.18)
• Those who believe are TREASURED BY GOD (v.19)
Psalm
Psalm 7 (When singing or praying this Psalm, we move through dependence on God for protection (v.1-2), asking God to deal justly with ourselves and the world (v.3-9), declaring God’s righteousness as our defense and counting ourselves among the repentant faithful ones (v.10-16), and turning finally to shower God with the myriad praises he deserves (v.17).)
Read the Passage
Read the Scripture passage aloud as a group. When you’re done reading, take some time to share observations about the passage. Try not to move into interpretation or application yet. Just spend some time observing what the text says.
Discuss and Apply
Jude 24 tells us that God “is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.” Re-read verse 18 of this week’s passage. Consider the types of protection that a person can need: spiritual, physical, financial, social, and so on.
1. For those who are born of God, what kind of protection do you think John has in mind? What concern does God show for these other types of protection?
Last fall, in 1 John chapter 2, we dug into how John divides our existence into two spheres: those who love God and those who love the world. Here in verse 19 we see this again: “John envisions that there are two ‘worlds’ within one; all persons are in one of those two worlds, believers are in both” (Dr. John D. Hannah). Consider the differences between the sphere of those who “are from God” and those who are “in the power of the evil one.”
2. What are the essential differences between these worlds? How does a person demonstrate which one they belong to–by their appearance? their behavior? speech? beliefs? actions?
Have the words of Psalm 119:174 “your law is my delight” or Romans 7:22 “I delight in the law of God, in my inner being” seemed strange to you? Sinclair Ferguson (The Whole Christ, p.82-83) admonishes us to see God’s law as “law from the gracious lips of the heavenly Father,” warning that if we lose sight of God’s merciful and loving intention, we will see his “law only as negative deprivation and not as the wisdom of a heavenly Father.”
3. What is your heart’s natural response to the law of God? Has your encounter with the Gospel changed that?
Read John 10:28-29 together. Consider again the truths that John teaches in this passage: our faith is confirmed and strengthened and preserved by the Word (v.13), by prayer (v.16), and by our progress in sanctification (v.18).
4. So, who is responsible for your preservation in the faith?
Closing
Remember the heart responses Trent outlined in his sermon: cautious (hesitant, ashamed), callous (bitter, cynical), careless (indifferent, dismissive), and confident (caring, determined).
Where is your heart in the presence of God? What needs to shift?