1 John 3:19-24
Preached 3/24/2024 [Previous Sermon]
INTRODUCTION
We have come to an important part of the apostle John’s letter. The last six verses of chapter three mark a turning point in his message of encouragement. Before we go on, let’s take stock of what he has said so far and what it all means. How do we know that this letter is one of encouragement? Because we have looked at the end and read his purpose statement, where he said
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
Remember that at the end of his gospel, John made a similar statement, where he said that he wrote the contents of the gospel of John “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31) So the gospel was written to bring people to belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this letter was written to give those who have believed assurance about their ultimate destiny and the power of God to get them to that destiny.
As such, the epistle is filled with one word: “know” (k-n-o-w). Knowledge and confidence are what John wishes for his readers. We read, in chapter two: “by this we know that we have come to know him” and “By this we may know that we are in him”. In chapter three “By this we know love”, “By this we shall know that we are of the truth”, and “by this we know that he abides in us”. In chapter four we read “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us” and “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us”. This is all topped off by the glorious next-to-last line of the entire letter: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
The word know (Greek ginōskō) is found 34 times in this letter. Many times he describes a Christian as someone who knows God, and whom is known by God. He says that we can know the truth, and can recognize the difference between a lie and the truth. John is dealing with confidence and certainty. He wants his beloved children to live in faith and be comforted by the knowledge that they have eternal life as an irrevocable gift.
If we think about it, there are two obvious issues that come up immediately when we see this emphasis from John. The first problem is the letter itself. Now that we are coming to the end of the third chapter, we might come away with the idea that John is aiming at the exact opposite of his stated purpose. He has devised a three-fold list of tests by which to assure our confidence in our salvation, and the tests are hard. And for most of the tests he makes statements in the form of if we say we are saved … but fail this test … we are a liar, or we are of the devil, or we are not of the truth. These statements do not seem to be designed to give anybody confidence. In fact, rather than sounding like the preaching of the gospel of grace, they seem to be from a gospel of works, like every other religion out there. Haven’t we read from Paul that “by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight” (Rom 3:20), and “we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” (Gal 2:16), and “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” (Titus 3:5), and “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
So, is John preaching a gospel of works? Is he dismissing the writing of the apostle Paul? NO. But to understand that we must understand what salvation is all about. That’s what these difficult but wonderful six verses bring us to.
Before we get to the text, though, I want to bring up the second question that this book thrusts us into. What is the value of assurance anyway? Why would it be a good thing? Amd why should this be so important that John writes five chapters about it?
Consider how many times scripture warns us about having a false hope. All through the gospels we see Jesus assailing the people who were strolling towards hell while thinking that their religious observance, or their birth, or their keeping of the six hundred thirteen different regulations and statutes of the law meant that they were sure to go to heaven. To those who were meticulous lawkeepers He pointed out the sins and hatreds in their hearts that God hated and called the most proud “whitewashed tombs” that looked good on the outside but were filled with death and uncleanness on the inside. He warned against judging others – not because we aren’t supposed to condemn evil, but because so many have built their false hope on the fact that they are “better than that other guy”. He warned that the quietest words that come out of our mouths will be “shouted from the housetops” at the final judgment, and that there would be many who would say to Him at that time “Lord, Lord” to whom He would respond “depart from Me, I never knew you.” The first problem of evangelism is not getting people saved, it is that we first have to get them lost. The law of God exposes our hearts if we listen to it. It strips away all of our clever rationalizations and leaves our hearts tender and realizing that we can’t save ourselves, so we will turn to the Savior who can accomplish a salvation that we cannot attain for us. Jesus is that loving Savior who came to save those who were lost. So walking through life spiritually blind and proud and complacent is a deadly trap. Even Paul, who had just finished laying the foundation of salvation by grace through faith in Romans, admitted that the first serious question that comes up with such a system is basically if salvation is free and completely independent of our works, doesn’t that mean that we can now live like the devil because we have an irrevocable ticket to heaven? Or as he put it “shall we continue in sin that grace might increase?” So we must guard against a false hope.
On the other hand, it is clear that salvation is free and not based on any of our works. All of our sins are covered by the blood of Christ. The salvation of those who trust in Christ is assured. We read in Romans chapter 8:
Romans 8:29-31 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
And we rest and rejoice in the grace of God, don’t we? The adherents of other human religions are like people running on a treadmill, never able to rest, and the treadmill is slowly increasing in speed. Make one mistake and worry if that will be the sin that condemns you. The question always is: have I been good enough? And so we are forced to do ceremonies and sacraments, penances, good deeds, give money to churches, make promises of being better, and trying to make deals with God to get to heaven. It is an unending slog through doubt and fear, with the prospect of death being the frightening thing described by Hamlet “The undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns”, in the dread of which Hamlet observes “thus conscience does make cowards of us all.” For this reason the gospel is a great comfort. Christianity is different from every other religious system and shows the mercy and love of God in an amazing and unique way. But here we see the same dilemma, but from the opposite side. If God does everything and we do nothing, then how does I John have any relevance to us anyway? We seem to be stuck on the horns of an eternal dilemma with no way to resolve it. We are left with two choices, either go through life ‘fat, dumb, and happy’ and hope it all works out, or keep a detailed bank account of our good and bad deeds, hoping that in the end God will just overlook our faults because, well, we somehow deserve it because we are not really that bad (crossing our fingers).
That is the high and mighty place that John is taking us to. Really, then, the first question we need to address is: what is the point of assurance, anyway? Why does John think that it is something which we should grab hold of? For this, I want to look at these verses a little out of order. If you look at this passage, it forms a simple chiasm, in that many of the ideas at the end of the chiasm repeat the first thought in the opposite direction. John says what we can “know” in the first and last sentences. Inside this layer God is mentioned in an important way. At the center is the goal of this section, where we see the second of four times that the word “confidence” appears in the letter, along with its fruit in our lives. So we are going to start in the middle two verses to investigate the Effect of our assurance. Then we will look at the bracketing verses – at the first two verses to discover the Enemy of our assurance, and at the last two verses to see the Enabler of our assurance.
I The Effect of our Assurance (3:21-22):
So why did the apostle write this entire long letter to ensure that his children in the faith have assurance, or confidence? And just what is assurance? The short answer is that assurance brings close us to God.
Works-based religions and cults can have highly motivated members due to the sense of fear they have in their lack of assurance. Generally a person with a figurative ‘gun to the head’ is more motivated than someone who has chosen to be a volunteer, right? But Jesus has opened a new way, where we serve God and one another in love. Remember that the two greatest commandments are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. No relationship based on fear and mistrust will be really successful. Likewise, what will not lead to a happy marriage will also not lead to a happy relationship between God and us. It is love and trust that give confidence and peace, and hope for the future, and confidence is what we need for those values to bloom. The devil drives people by fear, but Jesus repeatedly said “do not be afraid”. He said “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). So in verse 21 we see the second time John mentions confidence in this letter.
1 John 3:21-22 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
The word translated ‘confidence’ here is the Greek word parrēsia, which means freedom in speaking, cheerful courage, and boldness. If we have parrēsia, we have freedom of speech before God. And our prayers will be answered. The word is used in two ways in 1 John. In two of the cases (chapter 2 and 4) he is speaking of confidence when Jesus returns and in the final judgment, and in the other two cases (here and in chapter 5) John is telling us that a person with parrēsia will be comfortable communing with God right now. He or she will have spiritual vitality and power in their spiritual battles now. Like John said in chapter two, they “are strong and have overcome the evil one”. In his commentary on John’s letters, Robert Yarbrough wrote that: “This confidence is a means, however, not an end. … They have confidence “so that” their prayers are effective.” He also notes that this is the first mention of prayer in the epistle. Why does John talk about effective prayer as an important outcome? Yarbrough gives us two reasons: “First, Jesus was a man of prayer. … Second, Jesus instilled in his inner circle the conviction that to be his follower is to be reliant on requests made to and granted by the Father. … In the closing hours of his earthly ministry, he placed high priority on urging his close followers to focus their upcoming apostolic ministries on making requests of the Father. … Confidence in God’s presence turns the possibility of petitioning God as Jesus taught into a reality.” [1]
So in this confidence we have freedom of speech before the throne of God. As the writer of Hebrews puts it:
Heb 4:16; 10:19b-22 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” … “since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
If you are a member of the family of God through faith in his Son Jesus, you have confidence, and your prayers will be effective. Will we always get what we ask for? John does give conditions, or seems to, in verse 22, when he writes that we receive what we ask “because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” Again, we may think that John is going back to the works theme again, right? It sounds like he is saying that prayer is some sort of quid pro quo where God says “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”, and we are back on the path to no confidence. But John does not say “whatever we ask we receive from him, if we keep his commandments and do what pleases him”, but “whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him”. Is there really a difference between these two ideas? I would say absolutely. How can that be?
Remember that John is writing to those who are already Christians. They have not just subscribed to a set of intellectual beliefs about God and joined a church as if it was a social club. Look at verse 23. They have believed “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”. The words “in the name of” are crucial. We don’t just believe that if we say the word “Jesus” that we are a believer. We are not a believer because we associate with a denomination. Daniel Atkins writes that “Jesus’ “name” conveys His person and work and all that He is and accomplishes. … To believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ is to place your trust, your faith, in Him and only Him and all that He is – the divine Son, the incarnate Deity, the sinless human, the perfect atonement for our sin, the Messianic Savior. You trust all of Him, not some, part, or even most. You trust the biblical Christ or you trust in no Christ at all.” [2] All through this letter, John goes back to the doctrinal test, which is about Who and what Jesus is.
This wording is not unique here. Jesus told his disciples to pray ‘in his name’ many times. We like to think that we fulfill this by tacking on the words “in Jesus’ name” onto the end of our prayers. But praying in Jesus’ name means that we understand and agree with his desires and with his will. Only a Christian with a new heart from God can know his his heart (as we will see when we get to verse 24). But again, this is not a requirement for effective prayer, it is a result of being made into the kind of person whose prayers will be made in the name of (and after the heart of) Jesus. I think that we should say “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers, but NOT because it impresses God, but so that we will always evaluate our prayers by the name of Jesus. Maybe after adding “in Jesus’ name” to the end of a prayer, we will find ourselves convicted that we have not really asked the Lord for something that He would give us if He really loved us. We may find ourselves rather sheepish and change our request to something according to his wisdom and goodness. Imagine a five-year-old walking up to his father and saying “I’m your son and have your last name and I know that you love me, so sell our house and use the money to fill a warehouse full of my favorite candy RIGHT NOW! In Your Name I ask this, dad!”. Is that request really in his father’s name? I think you probably get the idea.
But the actual truth is that Jesus definitely said “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14) He said that the answer to the prayer is not limited by his power (He said that mountains could be moved from one place to another) but by his righteous will. James, in his letter gave two reasons for lack of answers in prayer. The first was because we don’t ask. “You do not have because you do not ask.” Thus the incredible need we have for confidence and assurance. By the way, the second reason James gives for lack of resources is that we ask for the wrong reasons, which corresponds to the “in his name” part of the equation.
II The Enemy of our Assurance (3:19-20):
Why do real Christians lack assurance then? Let’s turn back to verse 19 now:
1 John 3:19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
Verse 19 connects us to the previous section – really to the entire first half of the letter. But the immediate context takes us back to verse 14, where John told us that “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” The word “know” again speaks of assurance. The theme of loving the brethren is repeated in verse 22 as we have already seen. Again, we see that John wrote “because” we love the brothers, not “if”. This, like in the 2 ½ chapters before it, tell us not that we should gauge our assurance by how we feel right at this moment, but by the fact that God has come into us and changed our hearts. Facts. There is no person who ALWAYS feels well disposed to the other Christians that they have to deal with. And none of us has been always appreciated by other people in the church either. Others are imperfect, and we might admit that we sometimes manifest “un-lovability”. If you go home occasionally in a huff or maybe in tears from a church meeting does that mean that you’ve lost your salvation until you make up? Of course not! But you will come back. How will you come back? “…forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph 4:32) You will always do this if you “love the brethren”. If an affront causes you to never darken the door of any church again, that is the real test, you really did not love the brethren and John dealt with those people in chapter two when he talked about antichrists.
So how do real Christians lose their assurance? Look at the next verse:
1 John 3:20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
As the popular 1974 ballad put it “feeeelings, woah woah woah, feeeelings”. Feelings rob us of our assurance, if we forget the truth. To combat lack of assurance we don’t turn towards our feelings, but to the truth, as John pointed out in the previous verse. A Christian is “of the truth”. Paul said that our weapons were not of the flesh, but “divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” What fortresses? Paul clarified it for us”
2 Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
We conquer error, wrong ideas about God, and especially our feelings, through what we know. As one pundit is known for saying, “facts don’t care about your feelings”. Biblically we would put it this way: God’s truth is not determined by your feelings. God’s truth is not affected by the world’s opinions. The psalmist writes that as “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed” the response from above… is laughter: “ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” (Ps 2: 2,4) So how can we have assurance when you don’t feel like you are loved by God? Have faith in the God who is greater than our heart.
Why does our heart let us down sometimes? We have many organs in our body, but as creatures created in God’s image we also have a moral sense. We all are born with a spiritual organ, called a conscience, that reacts to sin by giving us guilt feelings, in the same way that our skin gives us pain when we touch a hot stove. The problem with the conscience is that it needs to be programmed with correct data, like a computer. Like a computer, if we program our conscience with evil ideas, then we can go astray. And if we refuse to listen to its promptings, its voice can become so quiet that we mistake other emotions for its moral guidance.
So if our heart condemns us, we must turn to God, who knows everything, to get our assurance. Why? What does God know? Well, He knows everything. How does his omniscience help our assurance? Consider this:
When He saved you, He already knew every time you would fail, in advance, and He saved you in spite of all of it. John has already given us the formula, way back in chapter one. If we say that we have not sinned, we are deceiving ourselves. Remember? Then verse 9 gives us that reassuring promise that when we confess our sins (agree with God about them and forsake them) then He will forgive us. That’s a promise! That is something that we know. Then at the beginning of chapter two John gives us the assurance that if any of us sins, God has provided us an advocate, our divine defense attourney – his own Son – who paid the full price for his wrath against us that built up because of all of our sin against Him. As the propitiation for our sins, Jesus acts as our great high priest. The wounds for our punishment are on his body in heaven forever. Have assurance!
III The Enabler of our Assurance (3:23-24):
So if we are lacking in assurance, if our heart condemns us, where did verse 20 tell us to go? Who is the enabler of our assurance? God is! So let’s finish our study at the last two verses of our passage. In these two verses we see that the security of our salvation has been worked out by all three members of the Trinity. The Father gave us a command and then abides (stays) in us and causes us to stay in Him. The Son gave us a command, and also paid for our sin, rose from the dead to prove our price was fully paid, and gave us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. The Holy Spirit made us a new creation, puts us into the body of Christ forever, seals us for eternity, and makes sure that we persevere until the day when we “shuffle off this mortal coil” and join the joyful choir in heaven, where we will finally be glorified and made perfect, completely without sin. God has done everything. Hallelujah!
1 John 3:23-24 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. 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.
As each member of the triune Godhood has a part of our salvation and assurance, our responsibility is also threefold:
Obey the Father. What does He command us to do? The Father commands us to believe in the Son. When He was on earth, Jesus was asked “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:28-29) This does not mean that God does not care if we commit murder. The law still reveals his moral character and once we are saved it should become our delight to follow. But the Father COMMANDS that we believe in his Son. Have you ever heard an evangelist tell people that God has commanded them to believe in Jesus? I haven’t. The other command in verse 23 is that we should love one another. We must realize that in our previous unsaved state we were unable to obey either of these commands. Paul gives us clear teaching on this. He told the Ephesians that before they were saved, they were dead in trespasses and sins. He wrote to the Corinthians that “the god of this world” has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they cannot see the light. But at salvation a miracle happens: “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6) A light shines in from the Father and burns the image of the glory of the Son into our hearts. Our hearts become renewed, we see the glory of Christ, and we are made into a new creation. This new person can and will follow the commands to believe in the name of Jesus Christ and will naturally love our brothers and sisters in Christ. And because we love our brothers, we know that we are of the truth.
Obey the Son: The Son commands us to love one another. Jesus gave this command over and over. He said that our love for one another would show the world that He had come from heaven. He said that it was a new commandment, which John also called it back in chapter two of this letter. But John said that we had this commandment from the beginning because it did not originate with him, but with the Lord Jesus. We show that we are saved because we keep his commandments. We are not perfect yet, but a new nature will show itself. Something new is there, and it must manifest. That person who has been born again will show it by keeping his commandments. We do this not grudgingly but because we have been given a love for Him. As Jesus said, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Obey the Spirit: The final test is abiding. And it is the Spirit lives in us, leads us, comforts us, teaches us, and enables us to obey the Father and the Son. As a Christian we can still quench the Spirit and grieve the Spirit by our behavior, but He lives within us. When we groan within ourselves because we are beyond even knowing what to pray other than our tears, the Spirit groans with us. When we study God’s word, the spirit teaches our hearts and programs our conscience so that we become more like Christ. The Spirit always points to Christ and keeps us focused on Him. John described Him in chapter two (not by name) when He said that we have an anointing from God that brings us to the truth. And the Spirit gives us an experience of peace and assurance from God. In the end, our assurance is undergirded and made real to us through the Holy Spirit. This is not just a bunch of transitory feelings but an understanding of and faith in the truth revealed to us by God in his word. Paul describes this wonderful reality in Romans 8:
Romans 8:15-17 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Conclusion
It is appropriate that John ends this section on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The amazing gift of the Spirit of God makes us a walking, talking temple. Like the temple of the Old Testament, the glory of God dwells within us. Unlike the temple of the Old Testament, the Spirit will never leave us like He left the temple of Solomon in the days of Ezekiel. This is an amazing gift, and it shows how much God has invested in our eternal life. The gift of his Son and the gift of the Spirit are priceless gifts. They show the love and also the long-term purpose of God in us. We should never think that we have been somehow given a measly measure of blessing in this life. James warns us:
Jas 4:5 ESV] 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?
God wants us to experience his love for us every day. The devil accuses us, but the Son intercedes for us with the Father. The Spirit prays for us and with us and seals us for that day. We are tempted to think that God has forgotten us by the devil and this world. Shame on us indeed if we think of God as being stingy or unloving. Shame on us!
The most joyful Christians I have ever seen are Joni Eareckson Tada and Nick Vujicic. Joni broke her neck as a teenager and has been unable to use her arms and legs now for decades. She encourages others and just exudes joy in Christ and came to the point where she thanks God for her accident because brought her to a deeper relationship with God. Nick was born without arms or legs and has spent his life giving love and the joy of the Lord to others. I have seen young Christians lined up in a stadium just to come and get a hug from someone who doesn’t even have arms to hug with. Both of them will have great hardships in their lives that make all of my problems scuttle away and hide under the rug in shame. If anyone could say “I doubt God’s love for me” it would be those two. But they shine with joy and bless so many other people with that joy that when I see them I am transfixed. Not by them. They point to Jesus in such an amazing way that when I hear or see them I am drawn to Christ.
May we all keep our confidence in Christ. May we all shine like the lights we were meant to be. May we let the love for the brethren that God has put into our hearts not be dimished by our own stubborn lack of faith but be cultivated and allowed to flow. The love we show for each other is just the boundless love of Jesus that flows into all of his children and that we give to one another because we love what He loves.
My final thought would be that if you have been hearing these sermons and they have not led to assurance, there is no time like the present to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, to call on his Name and put your trust in Him. Trust Him! Don’t quench the Spirit. Hear his call and turn to Him. If you do, He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Amen.
