INTRODUCTION SLIDE # 1
• Have you had those times when you were in real doubt as to your relationship with Jesus? You get to where your conscience starts to eat at you.
• What is it that causes us to get that way? It could be that you are in the midst of a fierce battle with some sin you want to overcome but do not seem to be making any headway. Our conscience is telling us we are not trying hard enough.
• It could be that you never feel like you are good enough for God. You serve and serve and serve, but you still do not think it is good enough. Your conscience tells you that you are not good enough for God.
• Maybe there is something going on in your life that you know you need to address and you have failed to address it? Your conscience is telling you to take care of it.
• It does not feel good to doubt where you stand with God. Guilt can be something that will keep us from wanting to serve Jesus because of our feelings of unworthiness. If we do not feel accepted by God, then our desire to serve Him will diminish. Some guilt is good for us to the point it motivates us to work on weaknesses in our faith. Guilt can also be bad when it comes from the enemy.
• Our conscience is something that can be a blessing to us, but if we let Satan get a hold of it, it can cause us a lot of trouble. There is nothing that Satan would like better than getting us to feel so guilty about ourselves that we give up on our relationship with Jesus.
• When we are starting to feel like our relationship with Jesus is not going well, it takes a lot to keep from thinking He no longer loves us.
• One of the things we need to understand is that even when we are at our weakest point, we have some assurances from God. SLIDE # 2
• I have entitled today’s message, “Blessed Assurance.” We are going to look at three assurances we have from God. These are assurance we can hang on to even when we hit the low points in our walk with Jesus.
• They are things we can focus on when we start to doubt where we stand with Jesus.
SLIDE #3 -4-5 Read 1 John 3:19-24 says:
SERMON
We have the assurance that: SLIDE #6
I. GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR SIN. (19-20)
SLIDE #7
1. Our love is evidence of our relationship with God. (19)
• Verse 19 ties us back to the thought of brotherly love. John tells us that one of ways we can tell that we have a relationship with Jesus is by the love we have for one another. I am not going to spend a lot of time on this one since we been spending a lot of time on the subject in past weeks.
• When we fulfill the requirements of loving our brothers, we can know that we are of the truth.
• One of the blessings of loving our brother for us to the confidence gained by our brotherly love assures us we are of the truth and therefore we can approach God with confidence that we are one of His children!
• This assurance can only come to one who is in the truth.
• If believers are demonstrating love by their actions, they will not constantly be wondering whether God will accept them—they “know” it and they can “rest” in that fact. (Life Application Bible)
• When we start to think we are not in good standing with God, we can look at the way we love one another as evidence of our relationship with Jesus. CLICK #7
2. We need encouragement when our heart condemns us. (20)
• As Christians proceed in their lives with Christ, it will happen that their hearts will accuse them. Whatever the source—an overactive conscience, the realization that they don’t love others enough, or even Satan’s false accusations—they will feel the accusation. (Life Application Bible)
• We need encouragement to stay the course, to stay strong.
• John assumes we have a heart that lacks confidence since we know our weaknesses and our mistakes we make we know when we get out of step with God.
• The phrase (“before Him”) gives us a picture of a courtroom drama. It gives the picture of one appearing before God wondering what the verdict will be. Before the trial our own conscience has already condemned us a guilty.
• The only thing we can do is to plead guilty before the judge, yet the judge will declare us innocent knowing we are guilty. This is called justification and it comes from God, you cannot earn it, but you receive it through accepting Jesus! SLIDE #8
• Romans 3:26 (NLT) 26And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.
• When you feel beaten down, you can know that God has declared you innocent.
SLIDE #9
3. God’s grace is greater than our sin. (20)
• We can be hard on ourselves our heart can tell us we do not belong with God that we should not be in the church that we should just give up.
• All Christians who have a conscience will struggle with feelings of inadequacy. SLIDE #10
• Romans 8:1 (NASB) 1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
• The job of our conscience is to continually judge our actions and thoughts against what we know to be right and wrong. There are times when our heart will make us feel like we are in worse condition than we are. We must remember God’s grace is upon us.
• God knows all things about us. God does not overlook or pay no attention to our sins, God knows them, but He also knows how much we trust and try how much we regret and repent. SLIDE #11
• Psalms 139:1 (NLT) O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
• Do not let your heart condemn you, let it lead you to repentance and faith. Trust God will do what He promises for those who are His.
We have the assurance that: SLIDE #12
II. GOD HEARS US AND RESPONDS TO US. (21-22)
SLIDE #13
1. We can be confident before God. (21)
• When our heart condemns us we will lack the confidence we need to approach God.
• Verse 21 does not speak of the person who has seared their conscience from habitually ignoring it nor does it speak of the person who is blissfully ignorant of God or the one who is satisfied that they are going to get to heaven on their own merit.
• When we feel good about where we are with God we will not be afraid to approach Him.
• We have the approval of God and the approval of our heart. The word “confidence” deals with freedom of speech. We feel like we can speak our mind without repercussions.
• We have this confidence because of Jesus. SLIDE #14
Hebrews 10:19 - 20 (NLT) 19And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20This is the new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us through the sacred curtain, by means of his death for us.
SLIDE #15
2. We will receive what we ask for. (22)
• This is not without limits. We must ask for things that are in God’s will. We must pray for things that are within the character of God. When we pray in the name of Jesus, we are praying for something Jesus would ask for.
• Ask and receive are in the present tense telling us that we are to continue to receive as we continue to ask.
CLICK #15
3. God hears those who do what He calls them to do. (22)
• The rest of verse 22 tells us that God hears those who keep His commandment. “Because” refers to the condition upon which prayers are heard. We continue asking and we continue receiving because we continue keeping His commands and continue doing what is pleasing in His sight.
• We have the assurance of being heard by God. Our tender consciences always feel inadequate, yet we have the assurance of salvation and peace.
• The way we close the eyes of God toward us is by not keeping God’s commands. This does not imply that every time we sin that God does not hear us, but it means that when we habitually sin, when we turn our backs toward God habitually, He will not hear us.
• In a moment we will look at the specifics of what John is speaking of concerning the commands.
SLIDE #16
We have the assurance that:
III. GOD ABIDES IN US. (23-24)
SLIDE #17
1. Our practice proves He abides in us. (23)
• In verse 22 we are told we receive from God because we keep His commandments.
• In verse 23 we are told what the commandment is. It is two-fold commandment.
• WE are to believe in the name of Jesus and love one another.
• We have spoken a lot about the issue of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• We MUST realize that belief in Jesus is not enough. SLIDE #18
• James 2:19 (NLT) 19Do you still think it’s enough just to believe that there is one God? Well, even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror!
• We are called to believe in the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus represents the person. SLIDE #19
• John 20:31 (NLT) 31But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life.
• To believe in the name of Jesus is to accept all aspects of His life. You are not a true believer if you just think He is a good teacher or that you do not think He came to live as a man (incarnation). You are not a true believer if you will not acknowledge that He died and rose again.
• You must believe that eternal life only comes through Him.
• These things are what a BELIEVER, believes about Jesus.
• Now those beliefs will lead you to the next issue that is the issue of loving one another.
• We MUST be real in life and doctrine. Proper relationship to God requires proper beliefs, proper beliefs leads us to proper actions.
• If we doubt any of the things just said about Jesus, it will affect the way we deal with one another, it will affect the way we live.
• Look at the Apostles for a moment. Remember how they were before Jesus returned to them after the resurrection? Their life was not very consistent with what they claimed to believe. They did not truly believe EVERYTHING about Jesus until after the resurrection.
• After the resurrection, they were changed people because they were 100% sure about who Jesus was and the consequences of not following Him.
• I am not saying we cannot question things, but as I said, just because you do not understand it does not make it invalid.
• When you start to say you do not believe what is written in Genesis, then you better question if John is true also. There are things in Genesis I do not understand, but that does not make them not true.
• Without apology, I believe The Bible is 100% the Word of God, 100% true. My lack of understanding of some of the finer points does not make them untrue!
• We do have to determine if something is a figure of speech or literal, but the Word of God is true.
• What you truly believe will manifest itself in your actions.
• If you have a love problem, a forgiveness problem or an obedience problem, you have a belief problem.
• As you gain more faith, you will find it easier to do what God wants you to do, it will become easier to love those whom it was hard to once love.
• John tells us to continue to love and continue to believe!
• So times when we look for a church, we look at the wrong things. We want to see what programs they have, what they can give to my family. Those things are not bad to consider, but does the church believe in truth about Jesus and do they love one another. You should feel loved in God’s church. No church is perfect, ACC is not, but show me a church that believes and loves, that is a great start, we can work on the rest!
• SLIDE # 20
2. The Holy Spirit proves that He abides in us. (24)
• John tells us that the Spirit continues to abide in us as we habitually continue to keep His commands, (belief and love). SLIDE #21
• Romans 8:9 (NASB) 9However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
• SLIDE #22 When we are immersed into Christ we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38 SLIDE #23
• 2 Corinthians 5:5 (NLT) 5God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
• God’s Spirit within us can assure us that He abides in us.
CONCLUSION
• Doubting your relationship with Jesus can be something that will keep you from fully serving Him.
• There are times when our heart rightfully condemns us. These are times when we need to work on some spiritual matters.
• SLIDE #24 We need to realize that when we are struggling that God is:
• Greater than our Sin
• He hears us and responds
• He abides in us.
• Do not let Satan have the foothold of doubt in your life. When you struggle do not turn away from God in shame, run to Him, seek out other Christians to help you work through it. We can have the Blessed Assurance that He still loves us!
