Finding Confidence Series

Finding Confidence

1 John 3:19-24

Introduction

1. Illustration: "Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time" (Oswald Chambers).

2. Most of you know that Tina and I love to go on cruises, but what you may not know is that it took Tina 25 years to convince me to go on one. Quit honestly, I'd seen the movie Titanic too many times! Finally, she convinced me to go on our first cruise even after I expressed concerns about hitting an iceberg, in the Caribbean, and getting lost in the Bahaman triangle. During our cruise there was a knock on our cabin door. A porter delivered a bottle of champagne with a letter from the head cruise director. The letter stated that they were sorry about the bad weather, but not to worry as the Captain was very experienced is navigating the Bahaman triangle. It also said that icebergs had been spotted in the area, but not to worry as the Captain was also an expert "icebergologist." You see having confidence in your Captain makes all the difference.

3. John tells us that we can have confidence in the great Captain, Captain Jesus! He tells us that...

A. God Is Greater Than Our Feelings

B. God Gives Us Confidence In Prayer

C. Obedience Gives Us Confidence With God

4. Let's stand together as we read 1 John 3:19-24.

Proposition: If we obey the great commandment we have confidence before God.

Transition: One of the things that faith gives is the confidence that...

I. God Is Greater Than Our Feelings (19-20).

A. God Is Greater

1. When George B. McClellan was commissioned Major General of the Army, he wrote his wife, "I don’t feel any different than I did yesterday. Indeed, I have not yet put on my new uniform. I am sure that I am in command of the Union Army, however, because President Lincolns order to that effect now lies before me."

2. There's a lot of discussion about feelings these days. However, what is not talked about is the fact that feelings can be misleading. Just because we feel something doesn't make that feeling a reality.

3. That is why John says in v. 19, "Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God."

A. John here looks back at what he has just written, and he states that the command to love one another is the key to knowing whether or not we are walking in the truth.

B. John is not talking about our continual assurance that we belong to God, but rather of a time when we have a crisis in our faith when we are unsure that we are right with God.

C. At this point we need to do a self-examination of ourselves based on whether or not we are loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.

4. But what if we feel guilty before God, I mean, we are all sinners, right? That's why we need to trust God more than our feelings. In v. 20 John tells us, "Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything."

A. However, there will come times in our lives when we come to the realization that we are not following the commandment of Jesus to love one another. But we can ease our troubled hearts at these times by our obedience to his command.

B. For God understands us better than we understand ourselves, and because he is all-knowing he knows that our often weak attempts to obey his command comes from a true allegiance to him.

C. Thats why John says, "Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything."

D. This is very similar to what Paul says in 1 Cor. 4:3-5,

E. 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 (NLT2)

3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point.

4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.

5 So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.

F. Here Paul is making it clear that judgment is not executed by humans or even our own conscience; it is God who is the ultimate judge.

G. So John is also saying that we can safely entrust ourselves to the judgment of God who knows all about us, and we can trust in his love and forgiveness.