How to Persuade Your Heart (1 John 3:19-24)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:04.799 If you're able to remain standing, please turn to first John Chapter Three, 2 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:09.269 Verses Nineteen through twenty four, and if you need to sit, that's fine. 3 00:00:10.189 --> 00:00:14.029 You can feel free to listen if you like. Lots of options. 4 00:00:14.750 --> 00:00:20.870 First John, First John Chapter Three, Verses Nineteen through twenty four. If 5 00:00:20.870 --> 00:00:24.300 you have a Pew Bible, it's on page one thousand and twenty two, 6 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:33.259 first John Three. In this passage, John Talks to us about our hearts. 7 00:00:33.740 --> 00:00:40.009 Are Fickle, are slippery, confusing hearts, and he tells us how 8 00:00:40.170 --> 00:00:46.329 we can persuade them. An interesting thought. Let's give our attention to God's 9 00:00:46.369 --> 00:00:52.560 word now and first John Three, verse nineteen. By this we know that 10 00:00:52.679 --> 00:00:58.159 we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him, for whenever our 11 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:02.759 heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart. He knows everything, 12 00:01:03.310 --> 00:01:07.069 beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, 13 00:01:07.230 --> 00:01:12.109 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments 14 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:18.310 and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment that we believe in 15 00:01:18.430 --> 00:01:23.260 the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he 16 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:29.659 has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God. And God in 17 00:01:29.780 --> 00:01:34.010 Him, and by this we know that he abides in us, by the 18 00:01:34.090 --> 00:01:38.530 spirit whom he has given us a man. I want to begin this morning 19 00:01:38.650 --> 00:01:45.969 with a story from you can find it in your bibles in John Chapter Eight. 20 00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:51.719 There is some question as to whether or not it belongs there in your 21 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:59.680 Bible, whether it's original to the text or was added in later. But 22 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:04.629 even if it is apocryphal, it's still a good story and it illustrates something 23 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:07.389 important about the nature of our hearts. And so I want to begin with 24 00:02:07.550 --> 00:02:12.389 this story in John Aid. It's a very famous story, I'm so famous 25 00:02:12.509 --> 00:02:16.979 that I think it has found its way into just our general speech and culture. 26 00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:23.060 People will refer to one of the lines of this story even without maybe 27 00:02:23.180 --> 00:02:27.099 necessarily knowing it comes from the Bible, and that's that he who casts the 28 00:02:27.219 --> 00:02:32.689 first stone right. This is the story in which the scribes and take Jesus 29 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:37.729 in order to test him. They're always doing this, right, they're always 30 00:02:37.729 --> 00:02:42.849 wanting to test Jesus, they're wanting to trap Jesus. Well, they put 31 00:02:42.889 --> 00:02:46.520 this test on him. They bring before him this woman who had been caught 32 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:50.599 in adultery and they say in Verse Four, teacher, this woman has been 33 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:53.360 caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law of now, in 34 00:02:53.479 --> 00:03:00.229 the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say 35 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:05.469 this? They said to test him, that they might have some charge to 36 00:03:05.550 --> 00:03:09.110 bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 37 00:03:09.110 --> 00:03:14.419 And as they continue to ask him, he stood up and he said 38 00:03:14.460 --> 00:03:21.580 to them, let him who is without sin among you be the first to 39 00:03:21.780 --> 00:03:24.659 throw a stone at her. Once more, he bent down and wrote on 40 00:03:24.780 --> 00:03:30.490 the ground, but when they heard it they went away one by one. 41 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:39.409 This condemnation that comes to them through this word is the thing I want to 42 00:03:39.650 --> 00:03:45.080 bring to your attention this morning. Jesus says, let him who is without 43 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:49.080 sin cast the first stone. Go ahead, this is a question, right 44 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:53.000 at, a testing question. They go to test him, to entrap him. 45 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:58.909 But, as usual, Jesus turns the tables and they find themselves being 46 00:03:59.110 --> 00:04:05.990 tested in a very personal way. Their hearts are being tested. Go ahead, 47 00:04:06.469 --> 00:04:13.939 who of you is willing to publicly admit that you are without sin? 48 00:04:14.060 --> 00:04:19.139 And there they are, testing themselves in their heart and they just decide to 49 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:30.569 walk away. The Heart's power to condemn is very powerful. The Heart's ability 50 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:38.370 to speak to us has a way of changing our actions, sometimes, like 51 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:44.240 we see with these people. They they walked away one by one, no 52 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:48.839 one being willing to cast the first stone, each person being convicted in their 53 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:56.829 hearts that they, like this woman, had sinned and, like the other 54 00:04:56.870 --> 00:05:01.949 faculties, that God has given you your eyesight, your memory, other things. 55 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:09.500 These things can be strengthened or weakened through misuse or or or use. 56 00:05:11.579 --> 00:05:16.500 Our heart has an ability to grow cold and hardened as we misuse it, 57 00:05:17.740 --> 00:05:21.889 as we don't listen to it, or as we listen to voices that don't 58 00:05:21.930 --> 00:05:27.850 deserve to speak to it. It can also be strengthened as we pay attention 59 00:05:27.930 --> 00:05:30.009 to the will of God, as we seek to discern it. We sharpen 60 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:33.730 it, we strengthen it. The question for us today, though, is, 61 00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:39.480 given this reality that our hearts are very powerful and they can condemn us, 62 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:44.560 what do we do when they condemn us? What do we do when 63 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:53.149 there is this self condemnation inside? Bring this up because this is what John 64 00:05:53.430 --> 00:05:58.029 says. He says this is again. I'm going to read Verse Nineteen, 65 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:02.470 for by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our 66 00:06:02.509 --> 00:06:15.459 heart before him, reassure or persuade cause to believe our hearts before him. 67 00:06:17.379 --> 00:06:23.050 This is an appropriate moment for John to say this. Why? Well, 68 00:06:23.089 --> 00:06:27.129 because for several chapters now, John has, like Jesus, been sort of 69 00:06:27.329 --> 00:06:31.410 testing us. He's been putting the pressure on us and asking US some serious 70 00:06:31.449 --> 00:06:35.839 questions. If you are have your bibles open, you can go back and 71 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:42.800 look at verse fourteen, for example, same chapter. He says we know 72 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:47.310 that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. 73 00:06:49.269 --> 00:06:54.670 The question end this then, is do you love the brothers? Do you 74 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:59.829 love these people that God is placed around you right now, on your left, 75 00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:01.660 on your right, in front of you, behind you, these people? 76 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:06.420 Do you love them? Do you love the body of Christ? If 77 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:12.939 not, well then you're not one who has passed out of death into life. 78 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:16.050 That's a testing question, right. How do we know who are those 79 00:07:16.129 --> 00:07:20.449 who belong to the church and those who have left? How do we know 80 00:07:20.810 --> 00:07:25.170 those who belong to Jesus and those who do not? And for some time 81 00:07:25.290 --> 00:07:30.600 now Jesus has been saying through his apostle here, the one who doesn't practice 82 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:35.480 sinning, that's the one who belongs to me, the one who bears forth 83 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:40.199 the fruit of righteous wistness, the one who abides in me, the one 84 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:44.709 who loves me, the one who receives the word that has come from the 85 00:07:44.829 --> 00:07:53.350 beginning. These are the marks of a Christian. As we impress and as 86 00:07:53.430 --> 00:07:58.069 the spirit impresses those marks on US and call and calls for a kind of 87 00:07:58.189 --> 00:08:05.939 accounting, it can bring to some of us a certain amount of condemnation. 88 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:16.529 I don't love you as much as I ought to. My brothers and my 89 00:08:16.610 --> 00:08:20.569 sisters, these people who have been given. Do I really love them? 90 00:08:20.610 --> 00:08:26.720 Or do I get angry and frustrated and impatient and lack kindness and generosity and 91 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:33.519 well, yeah, I'm sorry, even for me, specifically to you. 92 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:41.279 I'm sorry I don't always love as I ought to, and I know that's 93 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:43.710 true of you as well. It's true of all of us, or else 94 00:08:43.750 --> 00:08:46.029 John wouldn't say this. What do we do when our hearts condemn us, 95 00:08:46.309 --> 00:08:50.070 when we put these tests on us about the marks of a Christian and we 96 00:08:50.190 --> 00:09:00.220 find ourselves coming up short? You know that I, many of you know 97 00:09:00.340 --> 00:09:03.100 anyway, that I teach some cello lessons, if few cello lessons. I've 98 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:07.740 been doing this for a long time. One of the great inventions that has 99 00:09:07.779 --> 00:09:13.570 happened in the music world is a tuner. It's a little electronic tuner and 100 00:09:13.649 --> 00:09:16.929 I use this all the time with myself and with my students. You play 101 00:09:16.929 --> 00:09:22.529 a note into the this little very tiny like they're actually really small now, 102 00:09:22.570 --> 00:09:26.320 but anyway, you play a note and then the meter tells you whether the 103 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:31.279 pitch is correct or not. If it's on the zero, in the middle 104 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:35.919 and flashing green, you're doing great, it's exactly right. If it's wobbling 105 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:41.269 down here or it over here, it's either flat or sharp. What will 106 00:09:41.309 --> 00:09:48.149 happen sometimes is the tuner itself has to be calibrated properly, and sometimes this 107 00:09:48.269 --> 00:09:50.110 will happen. You know, it'll be in my cello case in the button 108 00:09:50.149 --> 00:09:56.299 will get pressed and the calibration will get off from what we normally want and 109 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:01.340 you'll have an all tune a child's instrument and I'll say that doesn't sound right 110 00:10:01.379 --> 00:10:03.820 and then we'll check it and it's right. And will check it and it's 111 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:07.690 right. It keeps centering there in the middle, right on Green. Everything 112 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:13.009 looks perfect. I Ah, maybe the batteries going dead or something, and 113 00:10:13.210 --> 00:10:18.169 then I'll check the calibration and I'll go, oh, it said three hundred 114 00:10:18.210 --> 00:10:22.879 and thirty seven mega hurts instead of four hundred ord and thirty seven, instead 115 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:26.639 of forty. Something's small like that can happen, and then I'll realize I'll 116 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:30.120 bump it up, and then we'll tune it all up and it'll be good 117 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:33.200 to go. Our hearts are like this. Right in order for us to 118 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:39.590 properly assess where we're at as we're being tested, multiple things have to happen. 119 00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:46.710 In the first place, the the meter has to be properly calibrated. 120 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:52.379 Maybe you have been in a situation, for example, where somebody has told 121 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:58.259 you that something is God's will, when it's not a commandment that you have 122 00:10:58.419 --> 00:11:03.059 to follow, when he simply hasn't commanded it, and you look back on 123 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:07.970 that situation ago, I remember that. I remember feeling guilty for not doing 124 00:11:09.169 --> 00:11:13.330 this thing, which I later learned was totally fine to do, or the 125 00:11:13.490 --> 00:11:18.879 opposite. I didn't feel ever, I never felt guilty, and then I 126 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:24.759 later learned that that was a sin, and now I've learned to feel guilty 127 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:28.600 for that. Either way, flat or sharp. Our consciences are like this. 128 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.190 Our hearts need to be properly calibrated according to God's word. Within a 129 00:11:33.230 --> 00:11:37.830 little electronic tuner in a cello, it's pretty easy. With our hearts it's 130 00:11:37.870 --> 00:11:43.789 a big mess. We don't don't read God's word properly, we don't understand 131 00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:50.820 it. We misinformation, there are bad teachings, there's misunderstandings, there's our 132 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:56.940 own sin, which is constantly pushing the decalibration button. There's all kinds of 133 00:11:56.059 --> 00:12:03.330 problems just at the starting point, just there and then, even if you 134 00:12:03.450 --> 00:12:07.490 get the calibrational right, which none of us ever do, even if we 135 00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:13.370 know and understand God's will perfectly, then we're not always great at assessing and 136 00:12:13.730 --> 00:12:18.679 and reading it. We're not always great at at dealing with the facts as 137 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:24.799 we have them. This happens with my students as well. They can see 138 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:26.600 right there. I ask. I say what is it? They say it's 139 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:28.919 flat. I say, okay, now what do you do? I don't 140 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:33.590 know. We gotta tune it up. How do you tune it up? 141 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:35.909 Do I use this thing? Yeah, that's what you use, right, 142 00:12:37.110 --> 00:12:39.990 but we like this is Christians too. We go okay, I know that 143 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:43.740 this is wrong, but what do I do? I feel bad. I 144 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:48.179 see that I'm not doing it right. What do? What do I do? 145 00:12:48.779 --> 00:12:52.980 Well, scriptures have all kinds of things to say about this. This 146 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:56.059 is just one of them and I won't try to say everything today. So 147 00:12:56.139 --> 00:12:58.289 if you feel like, well, what about this or that? Well, 148 00:13:00.210 --> 00:13:05.330 probably there's other things to explore, but this, what I'm trying to point 149 00:13:05.330 --> 00:13:09.129 out at the moment, at this is this. This process of calibration, 150 00:13:09.649 --> 00:13:18.159 of calibrating, of judging, is not easy. It's not easy our hearts, 151 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:26.159 which deal with all of this. It's difficult. With cello in an 152 00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:31.149 ideal situation, the battery is charged, the tuners working, it's calibrated, 153 00:13:31.230 --> 00:13:33.470 there's a quiet room and instrument that works properly and you're good to go. 154 00:13:35.029 --> 00:13:43.019 It's that often happens with our hearts. It's a whole nother story. When 155 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:50.379 things are right, we get what is pictured in the following verses and verses 156 00:13:50.419 --> 00:13:54.340 twenty one through twenty four. Take a look at those. When things are 157 00:13:54.379 --> 00:14:00.009 all working very smoothly and well, we have verse Twenty One. Beloved, 158 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:05.330 if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. That's 159 00:14:05.330 --> 00:14:09.129 a great feeling. Paul talks about this every now and then. He says, 160 00:14:09.169 --> 00:14:11.799 I stand before the Lord in according to my conscience, and I know 161 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:16.240 I have done the right thing. This is possible for us. It's possible 162 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:24.279 to have confidence before God. The continuing description of that continues in verse twenty 163 00:14:24.350 --> 00:14:28.149 two. And whatever we have we ask from him because we keep his commandments 164 00:14:28.190 --> 00:14:35.230 and do what pleases him. This is the confident, healthy Christian life that 165 00:14:35.629 --> 00:14:43.100 many of us us have experienced, but it's certainly not always this way. 166 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:50.179 There are times when it doesn't feel like this. This image of confidence and 167 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:58.210 Growth and success is pictured in Psalm one. There's this tree that is rooted 168 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:05.649 down by water and the PSALMA says it's leaf does not wither, fruit does 169 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:09.559 not fade and all that it does. It's prosperous. It's a happy, 170 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:16.240 healthy tree. You know, near the Santa Cruz you river there used to 171 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:22.750 be a large, large grove of mesquite trees, miles and miles big, 172 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:28.389 big, strong trees. They're not there anymore. Why aren't they there anymore? 173 00:15:30.029 --> 00:15:33.950 Well, because there's no water there. There's no water you typically that 174 00:15:33.070 --> 00:15:39.620 flows in the Santa Cruz River. When there's no water, the trees die, 175 00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:43.820 and when the water of the word is not feeding us and helping us, 176 00:15:45.419 --> 00:15:50.529 we tend to wither and shrivel. And that's why the antidote for this 177 00:15:52.169 --> 00:15:56.009 heart problem that we have, John gives to us, the antidote, is 178 00:15:56.129 --> 00:16:03.519 a doctrine, a truth, he says. By this we will know that 179 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.080 we are of the truth and we shall reassure our hearts before him whenever our 180 00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:12.519 hearts condemn us. And here it is. God is greater than our heart 181 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:22.149 and he knows everything. This is the little weapon that God places in our 182 00:16:22.269 --> 00:16:30.110 hands when we find ourselves dying, when we find ourselves filled with self condemnation 183 00:16:30.429 --> 00:16:36.500 and discouragement and spiritual depression, when we find ourselves withering away, he says, 184 00:16:36.539 --> 00:16:41.820 here is a little weapon for you will, a little but powerful and 185 00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:49.049 the simple, simple words. God is greater than our heart and he knows 186 00:16:49.610 --> 00:16:56.090 everything. The heart is a mysterious thing, as we've pointed out, but 187 00:16:56.250 --> 00:17:03.480 it is persuadable. Why? Because it's reasonable. The heart, as it 188 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:07.720 is in the Bible, is it is understood in the scriptures, is more 189 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.079 than just your emotions. It's all of you in a way. It's your 190 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:17.069 mind as your conscience, that's your will, it's your emotions as well. 191 00:17:18.789 --> 00:17:23.549 It's a reasonable thing. It's a persuadable thing. You Hear David, for 192 00:17:23.710 --> 00:17:29.990 example, persuading his heart in the psalms. Three times, in Psalm forty 193 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:33.019 two, he says, why are you cast down, my soul? Why 194 00:17:33.059 --> 00:17:38.500 are you a turmoil within me? Hope in God and I shall again praise 195 00:17:38.579 --> 00:17:45.130 him, my salvation. You hear that, why are you cast down on 196 00:17:45.329 --> 00:17:48.529 my soul? Hope in God, Oh my soul, remember God, he 197 00:17:48.809 --> 00:17:59.440 is my salvation. Three times he says that in that Psalm. Our hearts 198 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:04.000 often get discouraged and we have to remind them. We have to remind them, 199 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:07.680 we have to reassure, we have to persuade them. How do we 200 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:15.430 do that? We do that with the truth of God's word here, specifically 201 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:22.349 that he's greater than our hearts and he knows everything. There are many ways 202 00:18:22.509 --> 00:18:26.109 to persuade a heart and one of them is this way, through doctrine, 203 00:18:26.630 --> 00:18:30.259 through the truth of God. The revelation of the Holy Spirit, who is 204 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:40.900 living and active, means that doctrine is never just words mirror syllogisms. Doctrine 205 00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:45.970 is life, doctrine is experience, truth, wisdom. Doctrine is action, 206 00:18:48.289 --> 00:18:53.569 doctrine is God is greater than our hearts. That's a very powerful thing. 207 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:02.519 What does that mean? That God is greater than our hearts means a lot 208 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:06.440 of things which I would love to talk about for many hours. We don't 209 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:10.829 have that much time, but we can think just in the biggest terms right 210 00:19:10.869 --> 00:19:17.869 away. He's greater their hearts because he's greater than everything, the one who 211 00:19:17.990 --> 00:19:23.029 made the sun and the moon, the stars and the sky, big tall 212 00:19:23.269 --> 00:19:30.299 mountains, great deep canyons. He's certainly greater than my little heart. He 213 00:19:32.099 --> 00:19:36.579 made me, as we read in Psalm Twenty Five, he is our maker. 214 00:19:36.619 --> 00:19:38.369 Let me turn back to that. Actually, Psalm Twenty five that I 215 00:19:38.490 --> 00:19:44.529 read earlier David says, turn to me and be gracious to me, for 216 00:19:44.650 --> 00:19:48.210 I am lonely and afflicted. Then in verse Seventeen, the troubles of my 217 00:19:48.529 --> 00:19:53.480 heart are enlarged. Bring me out of my distress, consider my affliction, 218 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:59.640 in my trouble, forgive all my sins. Verse Twenty says, Oh, 219 00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:03.599 guard my soul and deliver me. Let me not be put to shame, 220 00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:12.190 for I take refuge in you. I take refuge you. May Integrity and 221 00:20:12.230 --> 00:20:18.269 uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel, Oh God, 222 00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:22.980 out of all his troubles. The reason we trust in God is because 223 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:26.900 he is a fortress, because he has a refuge, he is strong and 224 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:30.940 mighty to save. We sang of this just a moment of go in the 225 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:34.140 marvelous grace of our loving Lord, how great he is and all of his 226 00:20:34.299 --> 00:20:41.329 ways, how he can humble a heart or king, how he can take 227 00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:48.410 a nation and turn it another direction overnight, how he can move vast armies, 228 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:56.720 change time itself, make the sun stand still and plant a small rock 229 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:07.309 and a giant's forehead can change empires, dry up rivers, turn water into 230 00:21:07.349 --> 00:21:17.269 blood, bring bread from the sky. God is great, it's powerful. 231 00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:21.859 He's greater than our hearts, and they're twisting in their turning, in their 232 00:21:22.099 --> 00:21:30.500 confusion and their fickleness. He's rock solid, strong and everything that he does 233 00:21:33.369 --> 00:21:37.650 he is great not only them. Our hearts just sort of it as they 234 00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:42.089 exist, sort of his power versus their power, but he's also greater in 235 00:21:42.170 --> 00:21:48.559 terms of the effect that he has on them. It's not just sort of 236 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:52.160 there's this thing over here and there's that thing over there, but they come 237 00:21:52.319 --> 00:22:00.039 together when he forgives our sins, when he gives us his Holy Spirit, 238 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.390 as he says in a verse Twenty Four. By this we know that he 239 00:22:04.549 --> 00:22:11.829 abides in us, by the spirit whom he has given us. God has 240 00:22:11.990 --> 00:22:18.859 given us his own spirit who's dwelling in us and changing our hearts. That's 241 00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:26.220 power. Just as he can move mighty armies, he can move these things 242 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:33.170 inside of us. The greatness in the salvation of the Lord is seen in 243 00:22:33.289 --> 00:22:37.289 so many ways, in so many places. Will come back to that a 244 00:22:37.329 --> 00:22:44.440 little bit later, but let's focus now on this specific thing that John Mentions 245 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:52.960 of his greatness, that he knows all things. First of all, notice 246 00:22:53.039 --> 00:23:00.710 how this is underlined in this passage. There's a kind of a rounding that 247 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:06.150 happens here. If you look at verse nine, there is this word no. 248 00:23:06.470 --> 00:23:10.589 By this we shall know that we are of the truth. Right, 249 00:23:10.630 --> 00:23:15.339 there's this question in us and our knowledge. Then it ends. This full 250 00:23:15.500 --> 00:23:22.460 thought ends with a point about God's knowledge, about he knows everything. You 251 00:23:22.579 --> 00:23:26.180 see that. How how do we come to know something in our confusion? 252 00:23:26.660 --> 00:23:32.450 The answer is by the knowledge of God knowing everything. Know at the beginning, 253 00:23:32.529 --> 00:23:36.490 know at the end. And in the middle of that thought are these 254 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:41.319 three hearts, three references to the heart. First we shall reassure our hearts 255 00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:45.680 before him. Then heart is mentioned again whenever our heart condemns us. And 256 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:51.759 then again God is greater than our heart. He knows everything. It's a 257 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:53.920 little difficult to see here in this Bible that I'm looking at. It's all 258 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.029 compacted into this tiny little column, but if you take these phrases and you 259 00:23:59.190 --> 00:24:03.269 break them out, you'll see this. There's this knowledge here than heart, 260 00:24:03.430 --> 00:24:07.190 heart, heart, knowledge. The point about bringing up the structures to say 261 00:24:07.430 --> 00:24:12.900 we're intended to connect these things, we're intended to think when in our confusion, 262 00:24:14.059 --> 00:24:15.420 and what do we think, and how do we know, and how 263 00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:18.940 do we know what we know where to come around this point at the end 264 00:24:18.980 --> 00:24:26.329 that God knows everything. That's what brings confidence to the heart in the middle 265 00:24:26.369 --> 00:24:33.890 of all of that. This is this great comforting comparison. In the midst 266 00:24:33.930 --> 00:24:37.049 of your confusion, in the midst of your when you're asking yourself, do 267 00:24:37.289 --> 00:24:41.200 I belong to God? There's a certain point in which you need to stop 268 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:48.119 ants asking that question and start thinking about God, whom Daniel Twenty Two, 269 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:55.869 two hundred and twenty two describes this way. He reveals deep and hidden things. 270 00:24:55.910 --> 00:25:00.670 He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells in him, 271 00:25:02.549 --> 00:25:11.740 with him. That's what Daniel says right before he reveals dream. Job Twenty 272 00:25:11.859 --> 00:25:17.019 six six, again on the knowledge of God. She'll is naked before God 273 00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:22.130 and abadden has no covering. God sees right down into the depths of the 274 00:25:22.250 --> 00:25:30.170 earth, right past the covering that exists before our eyes. Job Thirty one 275 00:25:30.329 --> 00:25:36.559 four. Does he not see and number all my steps? Psalm one hundred 276 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:41.759 and forty seven five? Great is the Lord and abundant in power. His 277 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:51.549 understanding is beyond measure. Go ahead, try it. That's what jobs all 278 00:25:51.549 --> 00:25:56.470 about, right. Go ahead, just try to measure a few things about 279 00:25:56.470 --> 00:26:00.390 the greatness of God. Were you there? Did you accomplish him? So 280 00:26:00.589 --> 00:26:03.069 on and so forth. Go read job if you haven't read it in a 281 00:26:03.150 --> 00:26:10.859 while. Isaiah forty twenty eight says something similar. His understanding is unsearchable. 282 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:17.539 Or do you even start in trying to understand the understanding of God, who 283 00:26:17.660 --> 00:26:22.250 knows all things? Now, for the person WHO's trying to hide from God, 284 00:26:22.849 --> 00:26:29.769 this is terrifying. If this is you and you are a thief, 285 00:26:30.049 --> 00:26:34.880 a murderer and adulterer who is hiding in your sins, to hear that God 286 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.599 sees right down into the pit of Hell, sees right into your hearts, 287 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:47.230 knows every thought and word and intention and action. Well, it should shake 288 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:52.390 you in your boots. The fact that God knows everything and that there's no 289 00:26:52.549 --> 00:26:59.150 hiding from him, that everything will be discovered and Unar and uncovered, and 290 00:26:59.309 --> 00:27:04.220 that every lie in which we pretend otherwise brings only condemnation should terrify us. 291 00:27:04.900 --> 00:27:11.500 Hebrews Thirteen says no creature is hidden from his sight, but we are all 292 00:27:11.059 --> 00:27:17.690 naked and exposed to the eyes of him, to whom we must give account. 293 00:27:18.849 --> 00:27:22.569 Romans to one. Therefore, you have no excuse, Oh man, 294 00:27:23.049 --> 00:27:27.250 every one of you who judges, for in passing judgment on another, you 295 00:27:27.450 --> 00:27:32.920 condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things. He 296 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:38.200 makes two points here. One hypocrisy. You're judging other people when you do 297 00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:42.799 them the same when you do it yourself. But the second point is notice. 298 00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:48.589 You are very able to judge. You know right from wrong. You're 299 00:27:48.710 --> 00:27:52.750 capable of doing this. Do you think you, who is capable of discerning 300 00:27:52.950 --> 00:27:57.980 good from bad, right from wrong, will escape judgment from God, who 301 00:27:59.019 --> 00:28:04.259 is the judge overall things? I say this as a true and sincere warning 302 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:10.740 to any of you who are pretending that you can escape the knowledge of God. 303 00:28:11.740 --> 00:28:19.089 He knows all things. If you're afraid about the powers of the Internet 304 00:28:19.210 --> 00:28:26.359 recording your actions, how much more should you be afraid of God, who 305 00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:40.839 will give an AH, to whom you must give an account before the Christian 306 00:28:41.470 --> 00:28:48.069 who says, yeah, that's me, I ain't hiding, those are my 307 00:28:48.349 --> 00:28:56.579 sins and I'm going over here to claim Christ's righteousness for me, given freely 308 00:28:56.819 --> 00:29:00.299 to me, not because of this mess, but because of his goodness and 309 00:29:00.420 --> 00:29:08.099 grace. The knowledge of God becomes a different story when we come to understand 310 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:15.450 the great omniscions, the allknowing power of God. As he comes to us 311 00:29:15.490 --> 00:29:22.849 in His grace, we say thank you for revealing my sin, thank you 312 00:29:23.009 --> 00:29:27.480 for not keeping me in the darkness of my own heart, but bringing me 313 00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:37.160 into the light of your grace and now treating me as a son, as 314 00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:41.430 a daughter. Matthew six eight touches on this was. It relates to the 315 00:29:41.589 --> 00:29:47.150 knowledge of God, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. 316 00:29:48.269 --> 00:29:53.259 Isn't it wonderful to know that God knows everything, to know that he 317 00:29:53.460 --> 00:29:57.980 knows what we need before we know what we need? Before we know how 318 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:06.420 to ask, he's almost always giving it. He knows everything and he knows 319 00:30:06.460 --> 00:30:11.130 how to complete it. When our hearts condemn us and we're looking for hope 320 00:30:11.130 --> 00:30:17.730 outside of ourselves, we ought to go to God, who knows us better 321 00:30:17.930 --> 00:30:25.359 than we know ourselves, to trust his knowledge of US more than we trust 322 00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:33.039 ourselves. He says we're more sinful than we realize. Okay, I'll believe 323 00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:41.109 it because I know how unreliable this is already. You say your forgiveness covers 324 00:30:41.190 --> 00:30:45.430 all my sins and washes me wider than snow. Okay, that's great, 325 00:30:47.109 --> 00:30:53.859 because I know that God is greater than my heart. He knows everything, 326 00:30:55.019 --> 00:31:00.619 where we know only in part, and when we're all discombobulated and messed up 327 00:31:00.779 --> 00:31:07.650 and finding ourselves struggling to even understand what's going on, God gives us this 328 00:31:07.849 --> 00:31:14.009 sure truth that he is greater than our heart and he knows everything. You 329 00:31:14.089 --> 00:31:18.000 know, when you walk out, let's say, to even today, and 330 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:23.599 you look at, you know, the ground around your home, you don't 331 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:30.079 know what lies down underneath the your affair with all this rain that we're having 332 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:33.509 in the season that we're coming into, sure enough, there's going to be 333 00:31:33.549 --> 00:31:37.630 flowers there? Well, desert flowers here and there, maybe a weed, 334 00:31:37.829 --> 00:31:42.150 maybe a new CACTUS, but you don't know. You can't see any of 335 00:31:42.230 --> 00:31:48.019 that right now. But God sees it. He knows exactly where every seed 336 00:31:48.339 --> 00:31:52.980 is, where every little thing is germinating, everything that's happening. And if 337 00:31:53.019 --> 00:31:59.740 he places the seed of faith in your heart and is causing it to grow 338 00:31:59.859 --> 00:32:05.089 and is watering it by his spirit, he better be sure that that's happening 339 00:32:05.210 --> 00:32:08.930 and he knows about it. He doesn't forget us. He watches over a 340 00:32:09.250 --> 00:32:14.569 US when we can't see things properly, when we don't know what's going on, 341 00:32:14.849 --> 00:32:19.240 when we're waiting for the final results. What do we do? How 342 00:32:19.319 --> 00:32:24.680 do we persuade our hearts? We believe that God is greater than our hearts 343 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:31.789 and he knows everything. We can trust in him. The little little sprouts 344 00:32:31.829 --> 00:32:40.390 of faith, he knows about them. He's put them there, he'll cause 345 00:32:40.430 --> 00:32:46.140 them to grow. If you want about the know more, if you want 346 00:32:46.259 --> 00:32:51.259 to know and think about the greatness and the knowledge of God and see it 347 00:32:51.380 --> 00:32:54.099 all come together in one place, there's no better place than to see it 348 00:32:54.420 --> 00:33:00.490 on the Cross of Jesus Christ, because he, or God accomplishes something that 349 00:33:00.609 --> 00:33:06.250 he had been he had known and planned from the very beginning. When Judas 350 00:33:06.410 --> 00:33:13.119 planted that kiss on his master, on the one who had offered him salvation 351 00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:17.720 and betrayed him, Jesus wasn't surprised. What did he say, im go 352 00:33:17.799 --> 00:33:23.400 ahead and do what you came to do. When Jesus went to the cross, 353 00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:36.910 he went so willingly, willingly, knowingly. When Jesus suffered under the 354 00:33:36.990 --> 00:33:42.900 wrath of God for all of our sins, he did so knowing about each 355 00:33:43.059 --> 00:33:52.579 and envery individual sin of each and every individual person he was saving. That's 356 00:33:52.700 --> 00:33:58.369 the knowledge of God, and the greatness of his power can be seen when 357 00:33:58.410 --> 00:34:04.089 he rose again on the third day, putting to shame all dominions and powers 358 00:34:04.130 --> 00:34:08.530 and authorities and canceling, as Paul says in Colossians, the record of debt 359 00:34:08.570 --> 00:34:14.960 that stood against us, with all of its legal demands. Canceled, it 360 00:34:15.760 --> 00:34:22.079 done, forgiven, reconciled, redeemed, saved. Next, God took care 361 00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:29.829 of all of us completely and perfectly. He justified us in him, he 362 00:34:29.909 --> 00:34:35.989 adopted us as his children, and now he is sanctifying us. Trust him 363 00:34:36.070 --> 00:34:39.500 for that. When your heart is condemning you and you're wondering, how is 364 00:34:39.659 --> 00:34:44.659 this all going to come out in the end? The answer is to begin, 365 00:34:45.059 --> 00:34:49.579 or is to continue as you began, to walk in the faith that 366 00:34:49.739 --> 00:34:53.889 you have received, to trust God, who is great, who is sent 367 00:34:54.130 --> 00:34:58.849 his son in all of his greatness and his power to save you. He 368 00:35:00.570 --> 00:35:10.400 knows all things, even when you do not. This verse, this doctrine, 369 00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:15.559 is not magical. You can't just say it over and over bunch of 370 00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:20.480 times and all of a sudden you'll feel better. Sometimes, I'll tell you, 371 00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:27.389 you won't feel better. Sometimes your heart will continue to lash around like 372 00:35:27.510 --> 00:35:30.630 a fish out of water and you'll say this is what it says and you'll 373 00:35:30.710 --> 00:35:36.420 still not feel better, at least not right away. But it does help 374 00:35:36.539 --> 00:35:44.139 sometimes. Else John wouldn't say it. Persuade your hearts with this, he 375 00:35:44.260 --> 00:35:50.610 says. And you know what, even when we're not able to fully persuade 376 00:35:50.650 --> 00:35:59.329 our hearts of its truth, it's still true. It's still true. Let 377 00:35:59.369 --> 00:36:02.010 me end with this, from lamentations three, twenty two through twenty four, 378 00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:12.119 the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an 379 00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:21.590 end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord 380 00:36:21.710 --> 00:36:29.869 is my portion says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him. 381 00:36:29.909 --> 00:36:31.389 Let's pray