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.
H. What John is saying here can be extended to any circumstance where our own guilty hearts cause us to doubt our standing before God.
I. No matter how much our hearts condemn us, God still welcomes and forgives the one who seeks his forgiveness and trusts in his mercy.
J. Even when we are in one of those dark valleys of doubt God still holds us in his hand (Marshall, 198-199).
B. No Condemnation
1. Illustration: A man said to his pastor: "I am a miserable sinner and there is no help available for me. I have prayed to God, I have tried to be good and I have tried to do the right thing at the right time, but I always seem to fail."
The pastor asked him: "Do you believe in the life, the death, and the resurrection of Gods Son Jesus Christ?
The man said, "Yes I do.
"If Jesus came and stood right here beside you at this very moment, what would be your words to Him?" asked the pastor.
The man said, "I would look up into His face and confess my sins to Him and then I would tell Him that I feel like a lost sinner and that there is no hope for me."
"What do you think Jesus would say to you?" ask the pastor.
The man thought for a few moments and them a change came upon his face. The change went from a look of worry to a look of peace and tranquility.
And then the man replied: Jesus would say, "I have forgiven you of all your sins, you are under no condemnation, you are set free".
2. We can stand confident before God because Jesus has already paid the price for our sin.
A. Romans 8:1-2 (NLT2)
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
B. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross we are no longer condemned.
C. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross we are no longer under judgment,
D. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross we are no longer under the chains of sin, but rather we are set free!
E. The devil wants you to think that you stand guilty before God, and he want to constantly remind you of what you have done.
F. But Jesus reminds us over and over of what He had done!
G. Jesus has already paid the price, won the victory, and set us free.
H. Listen here devil, everything I've ever done is under the blood of Jesus and I have been redeemed!
Transition: Because God is greater than our feelings...
II. God Gives Us Confidence In Prayer (21-22).
A, Come To God With Bold Confidence
1. "When John F. Kennedy was President of the United States, Life magazine published photos of his children, John Jr. and Caroline, playing with their toys on the floor of the Oval Office. Those images captured the hearts of the American people like nothing before or since. Why? I think its because it bridged a gap between two thoughts: Kennedy was the President of the United States, but he was also a father. He held ultimate political power in the Free World, but playing at his feet were two little kids who called him Daddy. I dont think your kids would have been allowed to do that. Nor mine. But his kids were. Why? He was their father. He was not only President of the United States; he was also their dad.
In the same way, God is both our Father and the Lord of glory. We can approach Him confidently in prayer because we are His dearly beloved children, but we must never forget that He is also the Sovereign of the universe." (David Jeremiah, Prayer, the Great Adventure, pp. 89-90).
2. Since John has already established the fact that we can be confident before God, in spite of our feelings, he now tells us, "Dear friends, if we dont feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence."
A. Its obvious that as long our hearts condemn us we dont have the confidence to come to God in prayer.
B. Confidence is the characteristic we will need at the Second Coming, but it is also something that we need right now in order to come to God in prayer.
C. As long as our hearts are set at ease by the fact that God is greater than our guilt, then our hearts will no longer condemn us, and we will be able to approach God with boldness. This boldness is expressed in prayer! (Marshall, 199).
3. When we come confidently to God in prayer we know that we will get results. As John tells us in v. 22, "And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him."
A. Johns readers knew Christ’s commands and could test themselves by them.
B. If their conscience is clear, they can come to God without fear and with bold confidence. When believers approach God, they can trust that they will receive whatever they request because they obey him and do the things that please him.
C. This statement follows what Jesus said in his final discourse to his disciples, as recorded in John 15:7: "But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted."
D. When a believer is remaining in Christ and Christs words are remaining in the believer, his or her prayers will be answered.
E. This does not mean that all requests are granted; the context of John 15 suggests that the prayers should pertain to fruit bearing and glorifying the Father.
F. The same holds true for Johns statement, we will receive whatever we request. Believers requests will be honored by God when they are focused on accomplishing Gods will (Barton, 1162).
4. Reassured by the Spirit of his position in Christ, the believers confidence bursts forth into prayer.
A. In these moments, the Christian will not pray for some vain, selfish desire but, in the Spirit, will seek what his Lord seeks the encouragement of faith among the believers and the willingness to bear fruit for His kingdom.
B. This is the culminating result of a faith that resolves to obey the Lords commandments and to please Him in every way.
B. Come Boldly Before The Throne
1. Illustration: "The disciples had learned to understand something of the connection between Christ’s wondrous life in public and His secret life of prayer. They had been with Him and had seen Him pray. They had learned to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer. None could pray like Him. And so they went to Him with the request, "Lord, teach us to pray." Go, my brothers! Go to the Blessed Master and ask him to enroll your names in that school which He always keeps open for those who long to study the Divine art of prayer! Jesus has opened a school in which He trains those who especially desire to have power in prayer. Enter it with the petition, "Lord, this is just what we need to be taught! O, teach us to pray!" (Andrew Murray, With Christ In The School Of Prayer).
2. Since we have confidence with God we can come boldly before Him in prayer.
A. Hebrews 4:16 (NLT2)
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
B. As believers we can come boldly before the throne of grace.
C. The word "boldly" means fearless! We can come fearlessly before God in prayer.
D. We don't have to be shy or reserved in coming to God in prayer.
E. We can say, "God, here is my situation, and you are the only one that can fix it! So fix it!"
F. If we ask anything in accordance with his will God will answer!
G. We can trust God to hear our prayers.
H. We can trust God to answer out prayers.
I. So let's come boldly to God in prayer!
Transition: A part of the confidence we have in prayer has to do with obedience.
III. Obedience Gives Us Confidence With God (23-24).
A. Obey God's Commands
1. A big part of having confidence with God has to do with obeying his commandments. That doesn't mean that we are perfect all the time, but it does me that we are committed to following Jesus.
2. So what commandments should we follow? Well in v. 23 John says, "And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us."
A. John has talked about the need to obey Gods commands, he now expresses clearly what he means. He sums up the commands as one command expressed in two parts.
B. Some may misunderstand John and believe that all you have to do is love (i.e. see the Beatles).
C. This misunderstanding is clarified by John by stating that faith and love must go together.
D. Therefore, John points out that faith and love are both essential and inseparable. Not only faith, but right belief is stressed here.
E. We are to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
F. Believing in Jesus means believing that his name contains the power which it signifies, so it is not just right belief, but a trust in the One who is the object of the Christian confession (Marshall, 201).
3. John then concludes this chapter with, "Those who obey Gods commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us."
A. Throughout this epistle, John repeatedly exhorted his readers to remain faithful to the message they had heard from the beginning.
B. The final verse of this chapter is a statement that the Lord Himself made as John sat next to Him at the Last Supper.
C. John remained true to his calling as an apostle of the Lord, never wavering from the truth that had so dramatically changed his life and the lives of those who came to Christ and walked with Him throughout His years of ministry.
D. Because of his resolute commitment to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he knew from his own experience that the Lord was living in him and had directed his life for nearly sixty years.
E. John demanded nothing less from his children in the faith, and this should be duplicated in the life of every Christian.
F. John had experienced a precious fellowship with his Lord, even after he had witnessed Jesus return to heaven.
G. The Holy Spirit lived in him, and the joy of that fellowship was immeasurable.
H. The whole intense tone of his letter demonstrates his passionate desire that others would likewise share in this fellowship, assured of Gods faithfulness and unending intercession.
I. Our most important responsibility to ourselves, to our churches, and to our Lord is to obey these commandments to believe on His name and to love one another. Thus, may we share Johns fervent passion to serve our Lord faithfully.
B. If You Obey My Commandments
1. Illustration: What Jesus said was, "if you love me, then you will obey my commandments." In other words, love produces obedience, or obedience to Christ’s command is the result of genuine love. It is possible to obey Jesus words, as we would a speed limit, and not love Him, maybe because of fear of God. However it should be impossible to love Him and not obey Him. I say should, because we often hurt the one we love don’t we! I am convinced that the Lord prefers obedience out of love more than out of fear! Wouldn’t you? (Evangelist Roger Whipp).
2. Our confidence before God has to do with our obedience out of love.
A. John 14:15 (NLT2)
15 If you love me, obey my commandments.
B. Jesus uses a conditional clause, If you love Me, to teach the profound truth that loving God requires obedience.
C. In the light of Peters intense confession of loyalty to His Lord, Jesus told the disciples that if they really loved Him, they would keep His commandments.
D. Our confidence comes from our love for the Lord, and, according to Jesus, if we love him we will keep his commandments.
E. We cannot say one thing and do another and expect to have confidence with God.
F. If we obey his commandments we will stay in a right relationship with him and this will cause us to exude confidence in prayer and in life.
Conclusion
1. 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
2. THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER...
A. WALK IN CONFIDENCE BECAUSE JESUS HAS WASHED AWAY YOUR SIN.
B. WALK IN CONFIDENCE AND COME BODLY TO GOD IN PRAYER.
C. WALK IN CONFIDENCE WITH GOD BY OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS.
