The Testimony of the Holy Spirit

Introduction

Imagine standing in a courtroom, accused of a terrible crime. The evidence seems stacked against you. Witnesses claim they saw you there. Investigators say you confessed. The judge and jury believe you're guilty. And then—just as the gavel is about to fall—a voice speaks up. Someone with perfect knowledge and authority steps forward and says, “You have the wrong person. I know the truth.”

In 1989, five young men known as the Central Park Five were falsely accused, convicted, and imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit. The world believed the accusations. The jury was convinced. Even they, under pressure, confessed to something they hadn’t done. But years later, the real criminal confessed, and DNA evidence proved their innocence. The truth had always been there—only the wrong voices were being heard.

In 1 John 3:19-24, we are reminded that sometimes even our own hearts condemn us. We believe accusations—whether from the world, from the enemy, or from within ourselves—that we are unworthy, unforgiven, or beyond God’s grace. But John tells us, “God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.” When doubt and guilt press in like a wrongful conviction, God’s perfect knowledge stands as the final verdict. His voice overrules every false accusation, and His power secures our confidence before Him.

The Central Park Five had to wait years for the truth to come to light. But as believers, we don’t have to live under false guilt or condemnation. The One who knows all things has spoken: those who are in Christ are forgiven, redeemed, and declared righteous. So if we are in Christ, we don’t have to tremble in fear and uncertainty about our standing before God. Rather, the Spirit of God testifies to the truth of God in us.

Today we’re going to explore two accusers we face when asking ourselves, “How Can I Know That I Am A Christian?” The first accuser is a condemning heart. We’ll call this low confidence. The second accuser is that our obedience isn’t perfect. We’ll call that accuser poor performance. Fortunately, God gives us assurance that we are in him by reminding us that he knows everything, he has given us his son, and he has given us his spirit.

Low Confidence

Look at verse 19. John tells us 1 John 3:19 “19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.” In other words, “Here is something that will help you overcome an accusation against you that you are not of the truth.” Why does he seek to share this with us? It’s simple: John understands that the heart condemns us. Have you ever experienced that feeling of your heart accusing you of something? It feels like this, “I know you say you’re a Christian, but a Christian doesn’t have those bad thoughts you have,” or “A Christian doesn’t do what you just did…you must not be one.” I grew up being told to listen to my heart, to follow my heart. If I did that, I’d be in some serious trouble, because my heart lies to me all the time. If my heart condemns me, is that something significant? No! God’s approval is what counts, not ours or anyone else’s, and God is the one who knows everything. That’s what John says. 1 John 3:20 “20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” God knows more than our hearts do, for he is above them.

So when your heart condemns you, look to God. We shouldn’t ignore the accusation of the heart, because there is something there. But we shouldn’t listen only to our hearts. Rather, we should listen to what God in his word has to say. David Jackman said that not only does God know everything, he knows more about our hearts than we do. He continues, saying,

The Message of John’s Letters 1. The Challenge of a Condemning Heart (Verses 19–22a)

Our comfort is that God knows that the measure of love we do have is irrefutable evidence of the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that we have been born of God, that we have crossed over from death to life. And he wants us to know it too.

I imagine that you know you are not perfect. Nobody is! But listening to your heart reminding you of how imperfect you are has the opportunity to drive you into a low level of confidence in God’s love. Rather, it should drive us the other way. When our heart cries out that we don’t love Christ enough and condemns us, what if we said, “You’re right! I don’t love God as much as I should, and I desire to love him more.” Those of us who have been united to Christ are too often bouncing back and forth between a life of true, thorough worship and our former sins. John Wesley saw this in himself and prayed, “Lord, cure me of my intermittent piety and make me thoroughly Christian.” If you desire more Christ-like love, do not let that shred your assurance in Christ; rather, let it build up your assurance.

A heart that bounces back and forth between being convinced of God’s love for us and condemning us in our sin is difficult to wrestle with. It can hinder our prayers to God, because we doubt that he loves us, we doubt that he has met our great need for salvation in Christ, or that we have rejected it by our manner of living. But pursuing a great confidence in God helps us in our prayers to pray for things that God desires. When we are confident in who God is and what he desires to do, we pray for those things, and God is pleased to answer those prayers. If we pray that God would be glorified, that his will would be done, and that desire in prayer comes from our confidence in God, then God always answers those prayers. I think a pray that all true Christians can pray in faith with a guaranteed answer from God is this: “God, I am confident that you will glorify yourself, and that you desire for me to enjoy your glory. So I ask that your will would be done, thost you would be glorified in this world, and that you would help me be rejoice in you.”

Despite all our faults, the Lord accepts us based on what he has done for all who have faith in him. And so our prayers to him can be confident because we approach God based on what he has done, not on what we have done.

Imperfect Obedience

The second accuser is imperfect obedience, and I’m borrowing this heading from David Jackman. At the root, this accuser says, “Obviously, God isn’t answering your prayers because you aren’t obeying well enough.” Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers to him? Have you felt that experience?

What is the point about prayer that John makes here? Is it that if we obey well enough and do what pleases God, then he will answer our prayers and give us what we want? No. That couldn’t possibly be the answer. God would not allow us to receive whatever we want if he truly loves us, because he will never gives us anything that, in the end, would be bad for us. God loves us and wouldn’t give his children bad things. And prayer is not merit based. God isn’t waiting on us to perform our religious duties well enough and spiritually enough to begin granting our wishes. Look at the text. He says, 1 John 3:22 “22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” In other words, those who keep his commandments and do what pleases God out of a genuine, confident heart that God is who he says he is and has saved us are going to find themselves having a heart moulded to his desires.

Answering the accuser of imperfect obedience can be hard. But part of it is acknowledging that we do not obey perfectly. That’s true! Who could obey perfectly? Not a single one of us. But if we are in Christ, we do obey truly, and we grow in our obedience day by day. We do this by keeping God’s commandments and doing what pleases him. And here’s the result…David Jackman says, “As we seek to live in a way that pleases God, practising his truth and love, our desires become moulded to his. We want his will in our lives and the lives of others, rather than pursuing our own selfish desires willy-nilly. The more we enjoy and develop that relationship, as obedient children, the more we shall find ourselves asking and receiving those things that are pleasing to God.”

Now, what are those things which are pleasing to God? What are his commandments? John is so kind to keep it so simple for us. Look at 1 John 3:23 “23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” Believe in Christ! Who is Christ? He is God’s Son, eternally begotten from the father, ever united with the Father in perfect loving harmony, always pursuing what God desires, for they have the same loves, the same will, the same heart. He is also Jesus, the man who came to dwell with us and bring us to the Father. He is the one who shows us the love of God and unites us to God in that same love. And he is the Christ, the messiah, who shed his blood to atone for our sins that we may have forgiveness in him. By believing in him, we are counted righteous, for he takes our sin onto his shoulders that he may place his righteousness on ours. And the messiah will return, for he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sent his spirit into the world to instruct and protect us until the day of Christ Jesus, the Son of God.

The commandment of God is to believe in him! And since the love of God is shared to us by him, we are to love one another in the love of God, just as he commanded us. John 13:34–35 “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Remember that John is not writing to unbelievers, but believers who are concerned about having assurance in Christ Jesus. Context is important. Let’s now look at the final verse, 1 John 3:24 “24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” This is the closing argument against the accuser of imperfect obedience and low confidence: if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, God’s Spirit abides in us and testifies that we belong to him. The one in whom God abides will be known by keeping the commandments of God. The text does not say what the accuser would want it to say, which is this: “If you keep the commandments of God, then God will abide in you.” Rather, the text means, “If you keep the commandments of God…if you believe wholeheartedly in the Son of God and everything his name stands for, and you have the love of God for the brothers and sisters of the faith, it is a sure and certain sign that God abides in you, and the Spirit bears witness to this, for He abides in you.” In other words, to believe in the Son of God is to have the love of God, and to have the love of God is to have the love for God’s people that God shares with us. to sum it up, David Jackman helpfully says, “A true Christian, then, is one who obeys both the commands, to believe and to love. In this world, such responses will always be less than perfect and tainted with sin, but the continuance in them is the all-important mark of genuineness.”

So ask yourself, do you truly love the Lord? This is something you ought to know. It is not good to only seldom examine whether you are genuine in the faith. It’s not a good sign when you are fearful of discussing your spiritual state. You don’t want to live your life wandering if your hope for salvation is on uncertain ground. Nobody gets on the ship to cross the ocean if it hasn’t passes an inspection. You shouldn’t carry on through life uncertain of the steadiness of your love for the Lord, either.

Secondly, do what pleases God. You cannot hope for answers to your prayers if you are praying for what displeases God or falls outside His will. What pleases him? Search out the Scriptures. Live according to the commandments of God. Discover what pleases him, and live accordingly.

Third, believe. Nothing is more critical for you than to believe upon Christ for salvation. It is the source and the overflow of the fountain in a life aimed at righteousness. Everything starts with Christ and his gospel, and everything carries on by the same power. Whoever you are, whether you are a Christian or not, the command of God is to believe in Jesus Christ. And so I tell you, believe.

Let’s pray.