This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For 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 obey 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. Those who obey his commands live 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 3:19-24 NIV)
I love the story that is told of the Lion who needed a little additional self-assurance. One day he decided to reassert his authority in the jungle, so he went around roaring at each animal he found. He first came upon a monkey. He roared, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The monkey replied in terror, "You are, oh mighty lion." Feeling pretty good, he then found a zebra, and roared, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The zebra, fearing that he might be lunch, replied, "You are, oh mighty lion." Feeling much better, he then found a giraffe, and roared, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The giraffe replied, "Why, you are, oh mighty lion." Feeling absolutely confident, the lion then spotted an elephant, and roared, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The elephant reached down with his trunk, snatched up the lion, slammed him against a rock, picked him up again and slammed him against a tree. Dazed and bruised, the lion said, "Well, you don’t have to take it so personally!"
What is the source of real confidence? Confidence must be based on something. And depending upon that thing upon which your confidence is based, your confidence may prove to either be real or misguided. The lion stretched the limits of his confidence just a little too far. He was feeling good about himself. But he failed to differentiate his feelings from the facts of his situation. The elephant gave him an attitude adjustment. He refocused the lion on the facts.
Misguided confidence is based on a fiction or on a feeling. But real confidence is always based on a fact. True confidence comes from understanding correctly our position and the resources available to us. Confidence that is not based on reality will soon be proven lacking.
Our text today deals with these issues. As we look at it together, we will see three different relationships explored. The first is the relationship between knowing and feeling. The second is the relationship between confidence and truth. And the third is the relationship between obedience and life. Knowing how these relationships work will help us understand how we can have a confident assurance.
The first relationship that is explored by John is that of knowing and feeling. In other words, what is the place of feeling in the Christian life and what is the place of knowing?
Depending on your point of view, which in turn depends to a large degree upon the tradition in which you were raised, you may answer these questions differently. For instance, there are some traditions that place a high value on knowledge and depreciate the role of feeling altogether. On the other hand, there are traditions which emphasize feelings at the expense of knowledge. Our challenge is always to come back to what the Bible teaches about these things, and to be careful that our traditions do not supplant the Bible.
John tells us something very important in verses 19 and 20: This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Here he indicates that there are times whenever our hearts will condemn us. In other words, there are times whenever we are feeling totally unworthy. And he indicates that there is a way to set our hearts at rest in his presence. In other words, there is a way of dealing with this feeling of condemnation. And the way we do this is to appeal to the truth. It is the truth that will set up free.
What John is saying, and what the Bible teaches is that assurance is based on knowing the truth – not on feelings. This is a very important lesson to learn. Those who learn this lesson will be able to deal with life in a much more effective way than those who fail to learn this truth.
Early on in my Christian life someone told me something that I have never forgotten. It was the story of three people walking on a wall. Their names were Fact, Faith, and Feeling. And they were walking along the wall in that order. Fact was first. Faith was walking behind Fact. And finally, Feeling came along last. Everything went along fine until Faith looked back to see where Feeling was. Every time Faith did this, he fell off the wall. As long as Faith kept his eyes on Fact, he did fine. The moral of the story is that we need to keep our eyes on Fact and let Feeling take care of himself.
I think this is a profound truth. We must base our faith on the facts of God’s Word and let feelings follow up behind. While feelings are very important, they are fickle. They are not reliable. They can lead us astray. They can be influenced by so many things in our lives and circumstances. Something as insignificant as what you ate for dinner may influence how you feel. You can’t live your life based on feelings.
And what we know to be true will influence our feelings. When you really believe something, you will act on that belief. Belief determines behavior. Truth determines temperament. Faith determines feelings. And if you anchor your faith on the unchanging rock of God’s truth then your feelings will eventually sort themselves out even though they may vary from time to time.
So, when our feelings condemn us then we need to tell them to sit down and shut up. God is not condemning us. God is greater than our hearts. God knows everything. God knows even more about our situation and our sins than we do, believe it or not. And He said that there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We deal with our feelings by trusting in the truth of God’s Word.
John writes: Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commandments 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.
Here is another central truth that it is very important that we understand. It clarifies for us the relationship between confidence and truth. It is this. Walking in the truth gives us confidence before God. As we follow Jesus and focus on living by His word, we will be confident before God and even be able to pray powerful prayers in faith.
And what is it that gives us this confidence? Well, it is obedience to His command. And His command is explicitly outlined for us in verse 23. It is to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Indeed, this has been the theme of John in this section. He has been developing the case for practical Christianity. In other words, our Christianity should be evaluated by us based on our faith in Christ and our love for one another. As a matter of fact, you can make quite a case for the truth that our faith in Christ will always result in love for one another. If it doesn’t, perhaps it is not true faith.
Walking in the truth gives us confidence before God. Truth and confidence go hand in hand. Confidence, by the way, could be considered a feeling. When you are confident you certainly feel confident. And if you don’t feel confident, are you really confident? So here is an instance of feeling following faith which focuses on the facts.
Being confident before God will make all the difference in the world in terms of your relationship to Him. That confidence will give us courage – courage to live boldly for Christ and courage to press on in the midst of adversity. Winston Churchill once said, "Success is never final; failure is never fatal; it is courage that counts." Confidence that we are right with God and that God is with us will give us the courage that counts.
The third relationship that John explores is the relationship between obedience and life. He says in verse 24: Those who obey his commands live 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.
What is the relationship between obedience and life? It is this. Obedience to the truth brings the life of the Spirit. As we obey the commands of Christ we are the recipients of the life of Christ. This is how it works. The problem with so many today is that we want the life of the Spirit without the life of obedience. So we have neither. This may be the way of our culture, but it is not the way of the Spirit.
Obedience to the truth brings the life of the Spirit. This is the abiding life that Jesus speaks of in John 15. As we abide in Him, He will abide in us. As we plug ourselves into the source of our power, the power will then begin to flow through us. This is the lesson that John is trying to teach us. Jesus himself, through His sufferings, learned obedience. If obedience was the high priority of Jesus Christ while He was on this earth, should we be surprised that God will not bless disobedience? Even in the Old Testament, God said that obedience was better than sacrifice. Obedience means you. God wants you. He wants to possess you. He wants you to be possessed, not by some unholy spirit, but by the Holy Spirit.
This is also the exchanged life that Paul talks about in Galatians 2:20. There he talks about the life that he lives being the very life of Christ living in him and through him. His old life has died. A new life has come. It is now the life of Christ – not the life of Paul. Christ has given him His life in exchange for Paul’s. Now Paul lives based on the life of the Spirit living in him and through him. This is the kind of life available to all of us as we are obedient to the truth.
Notice in this entire section of Scripture the emphasis on knowing the truth, walking in the truth, obedience to the truth. It is the truth that sets us free. We can have confident assurance that we are God’s child, that we are in God’s favor, that He lives in us, by knowing, understanding, believing, and living our life by the truth.
Copyright © 1998 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
This data file may not be copied in part (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.