Confidence in the Truth

Introduction

How we know what love is. Jesus laid down his life for us and we should lay down our lives for others. Love should be shown by our actions more than our words.

This was shown clearly at Christmas where Immanuel, God with us, came as the greatest present offered to all, but only accepted by some.

Now we move on in 1 John to another passage the apostle John wanted to share with his broken and hurting church. Remember, John’s purpose in writing this letter to his church and all believers is to give them assurance in their relationship with God through Jesus Christ and that is where we pick up.

1 John 3:19–24 NIV

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 3:11-

1 John 3:19–4:6 NIV

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

1 John 3:11–4:6 NIV

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Know we belong to the TRUTH

This section shows us we can KNOW we belong to the truth.

John 14:6 NIV

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the truth. We need to never forget this and we belong to him. Remember 1 John was written to the faithful fragment of the church John shepherded. A church split from within by a vocal group of heretics that taught Jesus never came in human form. A group that denied the relationship with Christ that transforms you into a new creation and makes you right with God. They claimed basically an inner insight that only they had but their lives were full of greed, hatred and worldliness, but John reminds us that when we belong to the Truth, our lives are characterized by the way we love others and lay our lives down for them.

This transformation from self centeredness and self to Christ and others first are some of the fruit produced from a vine abiding in Christ.

This might seem like your relationship in Christ comes from the good things we do, but that is not the case at all. In fact, it is the opposite. Because of our trust in Jesus and what he did for us on the cross, our lives will be transformed into something that shows true love. It is God at work in us rather than our works that produce these good works.

This is in stark contrast to a good deeds

God’s acts of love that he does through us is one of the ways we can know we belong to the truth.

Because we belong to the truth, we can have confidence in our relationship with God.

Know we can have CONFIDENCE

Confidence is something many of us struggle with. We either have no confidence in ourselves or we are OVERCONFIDENT in ourselves. This confidence we have in Christ is not from ourselves it comes directly from him. This confidence described in verses 19-21 is a confidence that we can have in coming to God in prayer because our lives have been transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We live in him and he lives in us. This is shown by the actions he does through us and has revealed to us. We follow his commands and do the thing that please him. We believe in the name of Jesus the Christ and we love one another.

Confidence before God

What a strange passage. “We set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive anything we ask...”

1 John 3:20–22 NIV

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

1 John 3:20

Set our hearts at rest in his presence

John is telling us that we don’t have to be scared or worried when we approach God in prayer and in relationship. It is a greek idiom which literally means to convince our heart. So, the idea is we can know we are at peace with God because we belong to Christ even though sometimes we don’t really feel that.

I know for me way more often than I would like to admit, I feel unworthy to be in God’s presence. Unworthy because my faith is weak. Unworthy because of the things I have done. Unworthy because I have not done the things I should have done. Unworthy because of my past. Unworthy you fill in the blank. But John is reminding us that sometimes we just have to remember we can come to God because of what he did in Jesus not because of anything we did.

I think of it like this when I was a kid and did something wrong and as a result of my poor decision, I got hurt, I sometimes would be afraid to tell my parents even though I knew they were the only ones who could help me. So, I would have to convince myself to overcome that fear of embarrassment or shame and go to them anyway.

This is the same thing only on a much grander scale. God wants us to come to him. He wants us to reach out to him. He wants us to trust him. That is why he has done so much for us.

He wants us to know we can have confidence in him. God wants us to know we can have confidence in his presence. God wants us to be able to pick ourselves up from the ground when we fall and convince our hearts that we can come wounded, bloodied, and broken to HIM. That is why John wrote this book. So, that we may know we belong to the truth and we can rest in his presence.

See he is showing us again that we may KNOW we belong to him. Just look for the fruit of his spirit in you. Specifically in this passage it is if we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

“Receive from him anything we ask”

I always struggle with passages like this one and . Do you struggle like I do with these statements sometimes? There are many things you and I have prayed for that we have not received. Does that mean that God’s word is not true. Does God need me to justify him or his word? Both of these questions are absolutely NOT. But I think we should at least explore it a little.

In this passage specifically, “we receive everything we ask because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. Now I will get more into that in a second, but for right now that shows me we have some part to play in the asking and receiving.

John 5:14 NIV

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

1 John 5:14 NIV

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Tells us we need to ask in God’s will.

Several places in the gospel of John say we need to ask in the name of Jesus. , , .

reminds us we need to abide in him. When we look at these passages and the one we are reading this morning, a theme seems to arise. Our asking needs to be a result of our relationship with God. When we ask in a right relationship with God, then we ask the right questions. The right relationship is one based in abiding in Christ. Living in him, growing in him, trusting in him, and Listening to him.

The answer might also be that the prayer has not been answered yet.Jesus had a prayer in the garden that has not been completely received yet.

John 17:20–23 NIV

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

John 17

I am pretty sure that one has not completely been received, but it does not mean it won’t be. God’s timing is perfect. He also understands what is best for all rather than what we think is best. He sees so much more than we see.

Finally, because we are not confident in our relationship in God, we may not have convinced our hearts to do God’s will. God’s will is for us to trust him.

Look at Jesus’ prayer in the Garden in .

Luke 22:42 NIV

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Probably one of the most human moments of Jesus on earth. Father if you are willing please take this cup from me. But the prayer did not stop there. It went to the prayer we should always make. YET NOT MY WILL BUT YOURS be done.

Jesus showed us how prayer should work. He knew the will of God for him to be crucified, He was confident enough with God to be honest about how he felt, but he TRUSTED God’s plan over his own. Maybe we don’t receive all we ask for because we are not asking the right questions. or even more so we don’t trust who we are asking.

So what does it mean to receive from him anything we ask. How do we do that? Let’s look at the details a little more.

Remember this is in the middle of a passage telling us that we can be confident before God. We can approach him confidently whether our heart condemns us or not. We have confidence before God. We are able to go to God KNOWING that he will listen to us. Knowing he will hear our wants, our needs, our desires, our pain, our hurts, our loneliness, and our struggles. Knowing he is celebrating our victories and thankful for our relationship with him. Maybe in that is part of what we are being reassured. We are heard by God. We can live in a constant conversation with God. He will answer us when we call. He will guide us all the time by his Spirit. We are not alone. We are CONFIDENT and TRUST in the truth of God and the relationship we have in him.

Now in this passage there is an answer to this question as well we receive what we ask because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

That is a big because, but here is the cool news. Remember we can be confident before God whether our hearts condemn us or not. That is so COOL.

Keep his Commandments

Believe in the name of his son Jesus the Christ and to love one another. Sound familiar. It’s the same message that John has given over and over. We don’t belong to Jesus because we keep his commandments; We keep his commandments because we belong to Jesus.

Let’s look at the two commandments that ”please God”

Believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ

Believe, trust and receive. The gospel. . Confess with your mouth Jesus is lord believe in your heart God raised him from the dead and you will be saved. But God demonstrated his own love for us in this while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Trust in him. allow him to be your lord. Live, dwell and abide in him. Its the key. It’s the beginning middle and end of our relationship with God. It’s everything. Living in Jesus.

Watchman Nee and the Normal Christian life.

Love one another as he commanded us

The result of the gospel. Love as he commanded us. Lay down our life for each other. Love them like God loves them. Not only with words, but with action, service and sacrifice. Remember God is with us all in Jesus. He wants us to love all his people as he loved them.

God is Greater than our HEARTS

1 John 3:20–21 NIV

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God

1 John 3:20-

1 John 3:20 NIV

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

That is no small task but here is even more great news. We don’t have to do it on our own.

1 John 3:

God is Greater than our NEEDS

1 John 3:22

1 John 3:22 NIV

and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

1 John 3:22 NIV

and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

God is Greater than the antichrists

God is Greater than our the antichrists

1 John 3:24 NIV

The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 3:

God is Greater than he that is in the world

1 John 4:4 NIV

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

1 John

If you took this verse out of context you might make an argument that you have to earn your salvation. If you keep his commands then he will live in you, but we know from John’s epistle, that is not at all what he means. He is saying this is a sign of someone who belongs to God. This is something we can know even when we don’t feel it. God lives in us that believe in Jesus. We love others because the Holy Spirit live in us.

Never forget the power of that statement. We know he lives in us because His Spirit is in us.

We are not alone. We have confidence to approach God because he is always in us. He lives in us. We live in him. When we are abiding in Christ, then we are in constant communication with God. We are in his presence constantly. We are his.

Why don’t we live that way? What is keeping you from the confidence we have in Christ? What is condemning your heart that you need to trust that God is greater than?

Your homework this week is simply to allow the spirit within you to convince your heart to rest in his presence. He did all the work. He just wants you to be in relationship with him.