1 JOHN 3: 18-24
THE ASSURED HEART
[Hebrews 9:13-22]
There is a warm assurance, a sound persuasion of heart, that loving people in deed and truth gives the believer. Such love provides us with a confidence that we can go into God's presence and ask and receive whatever we need. These requests, of course, must be in accordance with His commandments and will. The Holy Spirit in turn will confirm to us that we are abiding in Him and enables us to live in God's will and keep His commandment to believe in Jesus and love the brethren.
We learn here that true belief will produce obedience to God’s commands. When you examine a bush in your yard & find a tender green bud, you know it has survived the winter. The roots must be alive for a bud to appear. In the same way, love for others reveals we have truly believed in Jesus.
Three wonderful blessings are promised in these verses to those that continue believing in Jesus and loving the brethren. These blessing are assurance in God's presence, answered prayers, and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.
I. ASSURANCE IN GOD'S PRESENCE, 19-20.
II. ANSWERED PRAYERS, 21-22.
III. THE ABIDING PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, 23-24.
[Outline assistance from Weirsbe, Warren. The Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor Books, 513]
Verse 18 helps provide the context for this section so let’s read it also. “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” Verse 18 informs us as to what the “this we know” in verse 19 is. It refers to the acts of love which meets the needs of other believers. Then verse 19 pledges that practical acts of love in which the needs of others are met grace Christians with a basic assurance that they are living in the truth. Let’s read verse 19. “We shall know by this (v 18) that we are of the truth, and shall assure (persuade) our heart before Him.”
John declares that obedience to the commandment to love one another is the basis for knowing that we belong to the truth. By loving in deed and in truth we shall attain to the knowledge that we are children of the truth. This sustaining truth is confirmed in God's presence. It is before God that the truth is realized. Only when we are in God's presence is the fullness of truth of our spiritual condition realized. The self-deceiver who walks in darkness hating his brother can quiet his heart because the darkness has blinded his eyes, but he cannot do it in God's presence. Maybe that is why Satan moves us to quench or resist the Spirit when the Holy Spirit attempts to bring us into God’s presence. If Satan can keep us out of God’s presence we will not experience the realization that we are out of God’s will (3:20).
When you come before God you can receive assurance that your love has integrity because it is confirmed by the deeds of a true heart. This knowledge revealed before God comes from God persuading an individual to recognize his true self. A Christian who practices love grows in His confidence before God.
How do we have an assured heart? By loving the Lord and His people, not in word and tongue, but in deed and truth (3:18).
This assurance that we walk in the truth should not be supremely dependent upon our own perception of ourselves, but on God’s perception as verse 20 helps us understand. “In whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.”
A condemning heart or an accusing conscience (καταγινωςκω, against knowing) is one that robs a Christian of peace and assurance. Sometimes our heart or conscience accuses us wrongly because it is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9). If you are practicing good deeds done in truth, you should go into God’s presence and challenge your heart to change its condemning self-opinion. More than one Christian has accused himself falsely, or been harder on himself than necessary. A Christian who walks in love with a heart open to God should go into God's persuading presence and ask Him to take away false opinion or devilish condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Because God is superior to our conscience we may, when our love is sincere and fruitful, persuade our conscience when we are in His presence to acquit us.
Let me mention two incidents from Jesus' life on earth that illustrate this important principle. When Jesus visited Bethany, He stayed at the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42). Martha was busy preparing the meal, but Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him teach. Martha criticized both Mary and Jesus, but Jesus knew Mary's heart and defended her.
The Apostle Peter wept bitterly after he had denied his Lord because he was filled with remorse and repentance for his sin. Jesus knew that Peter had repented, and after His resurrection the Lord sent a special message (Mark 16:7) to Peter that must have assured the hot-headed fisherman that he was forgiven. Peter's heart may have condemned him, for he knew he had denied the Lord three times, but God was greater than his heart. Jesus, knowing all things, gave Peter the assurance he needed.
Be careful lest the devil accuse you and rob you of your confidence (Rev. 12:10). Once you have confessed your sin and left it behind, it is forgiven. You need not allow it to accuse you anymore. Peter was able to face the Jews and say, "But you disowned the Holy One and Righteous One!" (Acts 3:14) because his own sin of denying Christ had been dealt with and was forgiven and forgotten by God.
No Christian should treat sin lightly, but no Christian should be harder on himself than God is. There is a morbid kind of self-examination and self-condemnation that is not spiritual. If you are practicing genuine love for the brethren, your heart must be right before God, for the Holy Spirit would not "shed abroad" His love in your heart if there were habitual sin in your life. For when you grieve the Spirit, you "turn off" the supply of God's love (Eph. 4:30-5:2).
We need FEELINGS. How colorless life would be without emotion! Think of a party without the spontaneity of laughter, a funeral without the shedding of tears. The music of Bach, Beethoven, and Handel would fall on stoical ears. A magnificent performance by a symphony orchestra would evoke no applause. Emotion is part of life's texture and in itself is good, but it is not a reliable guide to morals and truth. For that, we must always depend on the Spirit and Word of God.
If we have trusted Christ as our Savior, certain facts remain constant regardless of our fluctuating moods.
Feeling says, "I am sinful, lost, condemned."
Fact replies, "We are justified by faith" (Rom. 5:1).
Feeling says, "I can't face my responsibilities."
Fact replies, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).
Feeling says, "I'm lonely and afraid."
Fact replies, "I will never leave you" (Heb. 13:5).
The apostle John recognized that feelings can misrepresent facts. He said that loving in deed and in truth is how we know we belong to Christ (1 John 3:18-20). God has given us a full range of emotions. But if our feelings run contrary to the truth--the facts of God's Word--we must not rely on them. [If we do, we may act out the lyric of a “golden Oldie” that says, "It can't be wrong when it feels so right." That's dangerous!]
How do we escape the gnawing accusations of our consciences? Not by ignoring them or rationalizing our behavior, but by setting our hearts on God's love. When we feel guilty, we should remind ourselves that God knows our motives as well as our actions. His voice of assurance is stronger than the accusing voice of our conscience. If we are in Christ, He will not condemn us (Romans 8:1, Hebrews 9:14-15). So if you are living for the Lord but feeling that you are not good enough, remind yourself that God is greater than your conscience. If your heart is condemning or attacking you, don’t worry. God is greater than your heart, for He knows you better than your heart ever could. Simply go into His presence and with the Holy Spirit and the Word as your witnesses, ask Him to readjust your heart so that you have inner assurance that you are living [or abiding] in His will.
II. ANSWERED PRAYERS, 21-22.
Once our heart has been honestly adjusted by the Holy Spirit and the Word, verse 21 tells us we will have confidence toward God [and can please God from our hearts]. “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”
“If our heart” has no misgivings about our integrity we gain assurance toward God. Confidence (echomen) could be interpreted boldness toward God. It suggests frank speech because we have nothing to hide from God. If we set our hearts at rest in God’s presence we develop a comfortable confidence before Him.
Active love for the brethren works to produces such confidence toward God. This confidence toward God gives you boldness to approach God and abide in His presence. This confidence gained through acts of love for the brethren proves to yourself that you are living in God's will.
When I don’t live up to my own expectations, I tend to say, “I’m such a loser, why should I even bother to ask the Lord for anything?” But when my heart is not condemning me, I find I have a beautiful freedom with the Lord. From His perspective, it’s there all the time. But I only recognize it when I am free from the heart attack of condemnation. [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Vol 3. 2003. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, p. 1625]
[The Greek word for condemn in verse 20–21, is of interest. It is made up of two words: kata, “against,” and gnoskō, “to know.” Literally the word means to “know against myself.” The word indicates self-condemnation more than objective condemnation [katakrinō, “to pass judgment upon, against” (Rom. 8:34). [Palmer, Earl F. The Preacher's Commentary Series, Vol 35: 1, 2 & 3 John / Revelation. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1982, S. 55]
Our actions or our relationship with God are not finally qualified or disqualified by our own assessment of it or them. There is an objective ground that stands beneath the subjective perception, and that ground is God’s assementdecision [Ibid. S. 54].
Verse 22 teaches that the confidence gained in God’s presence also enables us to ask and receive from Him. “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”
Loving one another is also a prerequisite to answered prayer. Because we keep His commandment to believe, love, and act as God would have us to, we receive whatever we ask from Him. Kneeling before God in boldness gives assurance that when we pray we will receive that for which we pray.
Note the phrase whatever we ask. When we love God, keep His commandments (Jn. 14:15; 15:14, 17), and walk in His will, His will and our will become perfectly blended together. Prayer is not a magic lamp. It is the offering up of God's will through the yielded believer. O how many blessings have been brought earthward through yielded believers.
James Gilmour, a missionary to Mongolia, was once asked to treat some WOUNDED SOLDIERS. He was not a doctor, but he did have some knowledge of first aid. He dressed the wounds of two of the men, but a third had a badly broken thigh bone. Gilmour didn't know what to do, so he knelt beside the man and prayed for help, confident that God would answer.
As he pondered what to do next, a crowd of beggars came by asking for money. Gilmour was preoccupied with the wounded soldier, yet his heart went out to those ragged paupers. Hurriedly he gave them a little money and a few words of loving concern. A moment later he stared in amazement at one weary beggar who had remained behind. The starving man was little more than a living skeleton. The missionary suddenly realized that the Lord had brought him a walking lesson in human anatomy.
Gilmour asked the elderly man if he might examine him. Carefully he traced his fingers over the area corresponding to the broken bones of the soldier. He was then able to go to the wounded man and set his fracture. Years afterward, Gilmour often told of this as God's strange but wonderful answer to prayer.
When Josh McDowell's MOTHER DIED, he was not sure of her salvation. He became depressed. Was she a Christian or not? "Lord," he prayed, "somehow give me the answer so I can get back to normal. I've just got to know." It seemed like an impossible request.
Two days later, Josh drove out to pier to be alone. There sat an elderly woman in a lawn chair, fishing. "Where's your home originally?" she asked. "Michigan-Union City," Josh replied. "Nobody's heard of it. 1 tell people it's a suburb of-" "Battle Creek," interrupted the woman. "I had a cousin from there. Did you know the McDowell family?"
Stunned, Josh responded, "Yes, I'm Josh McDowell." "I can't believe it," said the woman. "I'm a cousin to your mother." "Do you remember anything at all about my mother's spiritual life?" asked Josh. "Why sure-your mom and I were just girls-teenagers-when a tent revival came to town. We both went forward to accept Christ." "Praise God!" shouted Josh, startling the surrounding fishermen.
God delights to give us what we ask when it is in His will. Never underestimate His desire to respond to our prayers. A surprise may be just around the corner.
Notice that the promise to answer prayer is dependent on our keeping God’s commandments and doing what pleases Him.
[An evangelist had preached on the Christian home. After the meeting a father approached him. "I've been praying for a wayward son for years," said the father, "and God has not answered my prayers."
The evangelist read Psalm 66:18--"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."
“Be honest with yourself and the Lord," he said. "Is there anything between you and another Christian that needs to be settled?"
The father hesitated, then said, "Yes, I'm afraid there is. I've harbored resentment in my heart against another man in this church."
"Then go make it right," counseled the evangelist, and he prayed with the man. Before the campaign was over, the father saw his wayward son come back to the Lord.
These verses do not, of course, give us all the conditions for answered prayer, but they emphasize the importance of obedience. One great secret of answered prayer is obedience, and the secret of obedience is love. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).]
III. THE ABIDING PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, 23-24.
Verses 23 & 24 clarify and emphasize keeping the commandment and abiding in Christ. Verse 23 asserts the basic commandment that must be kept to please God; believe in Jesus Christ and love one another. “And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.”
Having clarified the need to please God by obeying His commands, John more clearly expresses what that means. He sums up the commands in one command which has two parts. Faith in Jesus and love toward man sum up a Christian's obligations just as the great commandment does (Mt. 22:34-40). The Greek word for believe here is in the past tense, noting a once-for-all event involving faith, trust and commitment. Belief and love go together. The proof of belief is continuing to love one another. Without the right belief in Jesus love will be absent.
Two men, Jim and Joe, went DOWN THE AISLE in a revival meeting and prayed the sinners prayer. Years passed and one day the evangelist again saw the pastor of the church in which he had led the revival. He said to the pastor, “You know, I remember that night when two men, Him and Joe, came down the aisle and gave their lives to Jesus. How are they?” The local pastor replied, “Jim is a saint. He is a pillar in the church. He has grown in grace and is a strong man of faith in God. Joe went back into his old sinful ways after six weeks.”
Did that surprise God? No. God knew all about it. God looked into the heart and saw Jim’s faith and a real commitment that glorified Him and the angels rejoiced. God also saw that Joe just felt sorry for the effects of His sin and was making a non-repentant gesture. God knew all of that, but the pastor did not know it. The evangelist did not know it. The people did not know it. It was only in works that Jim proved he was justified by faith. It was only in works that Joe proved he had not been regenerated. The only way you can demonstrate what is in your life is by what you do.
Love is in the present tense denoting a continuing practice. We can infer from this that there is no true belief in Jesus without a continuing true love for His people. There is also no true love for His people without belief in Jesus Christ.
In the Bible, a person's name stands for his or her character. It represents who he or she really is. We are to believe not only in Jesus' words, but also in His very person as the Son of God. Moreover, to believe in the name indicates patterning your life after Christ's, to become more like Him by uniting yourself with Him. And if we are living like Christ, we will "love one another."
The final verse (24) in the third chapter teaches us the assurance that comes from abiding in God’s Word and in God’s Spirit. “And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
John again makes the point that obedience to God’s commands is the condition for communion or abiding with God. The use of the plural commands may indicate that the command to believe and love expresses itself in a multiplicity of subordinate commands. We may possess all kinds of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment. Yet if there is no obedience to God, there is no true knowledge of Him and no union with Him.
Note also the mutual abiding of Christ in us and we in Him. He abides in us through the Spirit whose abiding is God's permanent seal of ownership and eternal guarantee of salvation (Eph. 1:13-14).
Abiding in Christ is a key experience for a believer who wants to have confidence toward God and enjoy answers to prayer. Jesus, in His message to the disciples in the Upper Room (John 15:1-14) illustrated "abiding." He compared His followers to the branches of a vine. So long as the branch draws its strength from the vine, it produces fruit. But if it separates itself from the vine, it withers and dies.
Jesus was not talking about salvation; He was talking about fruit-bearing. The instant a sinner trusts Christ, he enters into union with Christ; but maintaining communion is a moment-by-moment responsibility. Abiding depends on our obeying His Word and keeping clean (John 15:3, 10).
We have been taught that when a believer walks in love, he finds it easier to pray and to obey God, and therefore he maintains a close communion with God. As John 14:23 says, “If a man loves Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come into him and make Our abode with him.”
CONCLUSION
It was the Spirit's convicting power that brought us to belief in Jesus. When we believed in Jesus the Spirit came into our lives to enable us to keep God's commandment to love and to follow His will for our lives.
When we abide in Christ we grow into His likeness. But there still are many needs and questions in life that God can answer for us. When we come into God's presence in prayer we can distinguish between false guilt and true conviction and then deal with it appropriately.
Would you close you eyes and allow God’s presence to permeate your being, you soul, your consciousness? While you are in His presence let Him minister to you and speak truth to you. Ask Him how is your love for the brethren? Ask Him if your are keeping His commands to believe and love.
Is God convicting you today that you have not loved the brethren in deed and truth? Or is Satan lying to you to keep you from experiencing the joy that fellowship with God and the brethren should bring? Have you truly come into His presence and let His love cause you to distinguish and receive the help you need to put your personal world in order? If not, will you?
