[0:00] Now, seeking God's help, I should like us to turn this evening to 1 John chapter 3, to the second of these passages that we read, and we'll read again at verse 19.
[0:21] By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our heart before him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
[0:39] 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.
[0:57] Particularly these words of verse 20, where John says, whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
[1:17] At the beginning of this chapter, John is glorying in the fact that we who believe in Christ are actually the sons and daughters of God.
[1:35] What kind of love is this, that the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God?
[1:46] It is, as John Murray used to say, the apex of privilege, that sinners like us should have been admitted into God's family with the right to call him our Father.
[2:02] And if that's the case, then John goes on to say, it is actually our greater privilege to be assured of that fact.
[2:15] Not only to be the children of God, but to be assured of the fact that we are the children of God. That's why John labors in this chapter to give us some of the family traits and family characteristics of those who have God as their father.
[2:36] There are some things common to every family, however distinct and however individual each member of the family might be, and it's no different in God's family.
[2:49] All those who believe in Christ, they are not clones of one another. They're individually born again and individually brought into God's family, and yet they all have things that are common to them all, if they are God's people at all.
[3:08] They don't make, according to John, a practice of sinning. They do sin, but they do not make a practice of sinning.
[3:19] They have a hope in them, and so they purify themselves. It is evident who are the children of God, because, says John, those who are the children of God practice righteousness.
[3:33] And in this section that we read, John is pressing this point further, by talking about love for one another. By this we know we shall be assured of the fact that we have passed from death to life.
[3:51] We don't belong to the family to which we belonged by nature. We have passed into a new family and a new dimension of being, and we know that because we love the brothers.
[4:05] We learned what love was when he laid down his life for us. And that love that he had for us is to be in some measure, at least replicated in us, in our preparation to lay down our lives for the brothers, to open our hearts to one another, to meet one another's needs, to love one another, not in word or in talk, as an idle profession or boast, but actually in action and in truth.
[4:37] So these are some of the telltale signs that we are now the children of God. And finding these in ourselves, we can have, says John, the assurance beyond all doubt that God is indeed our Father.
[4:52] And that everyone else in the world who calls him their Father is brother or sister to us. So we are drawn into this passage to look at ourselves and to see whether these characteristics and these traits are actually in our lives and in our experience.
[5:12] By this, says John, we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. It's that great recurring emphasis on assurance and reassurance and knowing that we are the children of God.
[5:30] And then into his argument, John injects this thought. Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything.
[5:47] If our heart doesn't condemn us, then we have confidence before God and whatever we ask, we receive from him.
[5:59] So here's this thought intruding into John's argument concerning our assurance that we are the people of God. When our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart.
[6:13] Now there are two statements there, aren't there? On the one hand, there is the statement that our hearts, now he's talking about the family of God, the children of God, their hearts, your heart, if you're a son or a daughter of God, your heart condemns you.
[6:32] The second statement that he makes is that God is greater than your heart. Two very simple statements. The problem is how they relate to one another.
[6:46] And actually, for all the simplicity of the passage, there has been quite a division of thought and interpretation of how these two statements interact and relate to each other.
[7:00] On the one hand, there are those who see them as a comparison and who see them as parallel. Our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart.
[7:14] He knows everything. He condemns us too. On that basis, you'll find that kind of reasoning in Calvin and in Matthew, Henry and in some of the giants of biblical interpretation.
[7:27] And on that reading of this verse, they say, John is arguing that the only way you can have assurance before God is with a clean conscience and a clear conscience conscience.
[7:41] And so, you must search out your heart and search out your life because if your conscience condemns you, how much more will your God condemn you? He knows everything.
[7:53] He sees much deeper than your heart sees. And if your heart is telling you that you're a sinner, that is only God's light in your soul and he knows that you're a sinner.
[8:05] and it's when your heart doesn't condemn you that you can then have confidence before God. The knowledge of God, says Calvin, penetrates deeper than the perceptions of our conscience.
[8:20] No one can stand before him except the integrity of his conscience sustain him. In other words, if you see these two statements as parallel, the second is only intensifying the first.
[8:36] Our conscience condemns us and how much more therefore will God condemn us? And so, we need to have our conscience cleaned and be absolutely right with God.
[8:49] Now, of course, that is the truth. It is another question whether that's the truth that John is teaching in this point because there is another way to read this verse and it is to see these two statements not in comparison but in contrast in which John is saying our heart condemns us but God is greater than our heart and so we come to him.
[9:20] We reassure our heart before him and then he can quieten the accusation of our heart and then we can have peace.
[9:31] with him. I rather think that that's exactly what John is telling us here. After all, that's been the kind of argumentation that he's had in this epistle.
[9:45] He tells us, for example, at the beginning of chapter 2 that these things are written so that we will not sin. That's the statement. Absolutely. It's incredible, isn't it?
[9:57] Why is the Bible written? Why do you have it? Why is it in your possession? Why is the gospel preached? It's there so that you will stop sinning.
[10:09] Well, what hope is there? If that's the object of God giving me the Bible then it's an entire failure on my part because everything I find in me is just sin and keep on sin.
[10:23] But of course, John appeals to something much greater than that. Yes, this is given so that we won't sin but if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
[10:38] And it's that great contrast, isn't it, that he wants to emphasize and I think that's what John is doing here. I think John is telling me at this point in his reasoning that if you want assurance that you're the child of God then you must realize that your heart will tell you the very opposite.
[11:00] Your heart will condemn you. Your heart in and of itself won't give you that assurance. You need to go outside your heart for your heart to be stilled and the only place you can go is to the God who knows everything.
[11:17] And when he deals with the matters of your heart then your heart can be quiet. and you can have the assurance that you're looking for. So I want this evening to look at it that way.
[11:30] It seems to me that there is a kind of image here of a court in session. In the arena of your own self-awareness and self-consciousness there is a court in session.
[11:45] And your heart comes and has a case against you. your heart condemns you. But there is a point to which you can appeal against the sentence of your own heart.
[12:06] God is greater than your heart and he knows everything. and if you acquiesce in his verdict then your heart has nowhere to go with its case against you and you can be sure that you are a child of God.
[12:31] Let's come into the court this evening. Let's listen to the case and to the appeal and to the verdict.
[12:43] Your heart has a case against you tonight. It's remarkable isn't it how in these Psalms the Psalmist speaks to his heart.
[12:55] His heart speaks to himself. John captures that here doesn't he? He says whenever our heart condemns us it's almost as if your heart is something other than yourself but of course it's not.
[13:13] It's that part of you that is able to register the things that you are and the things that you've done and the things that you've thought and the things that you're capable of and it comes into this court tonight and it is ready to condemn you and to accuse you.
[13:33] It's ready to point out every blemish and every stain on your character and on your witness. Your heart is ready to point out to you this evening every reason why you cannot in a million lifetimes ever imagine that you could be a child of God.
[13:54] It's ready to point out every argument against the proposition that God could possibly be your father and that you could possibly be his child.
[14:08] Aren't you amazed at the capacity of your heart to do that and the relentlessness of your heart's work in the court of your own self awareness.
[14:26] Your heart comes in with files this big and then goes out for more and brings argument after argument after argument to remind you of what you once were but what's even worse to remind you of what you still are to point out past sins.
[14:49] It's remarkable isn't it? my sins and faults of youth writes the mature David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he comes to God for mercy and looks to the redemption that is multiplied in the grace of God toward him and yet he knows that there are sins and faults of his youth.
[15:14] Your heart doesn't let these go. It's got a record of them all. It keeps reminding you of them. You can't remember last Sunday's sermon but you can't forget last century's sins.
[15:29] All these blemishes all these things that you ever did against God and against his word they still make you smart and they still make you cringe and your heart comes and says how can you be a child of God with that in your past?
[15:47] And then you try to counter the argument of your heart and say but they've all been washed away by the blood of Jesus. And your heart continues his argument.
[15:58] He's such a great orator, such a skilled orator in the court. And he's got so many arguments, much more of them based on the time since you became a Christian than anything he can appeal to from before you were a Christian.
[16:14] All these blemishes on your profession, all these inconsistencies in your Christian life, all these broken promises and all these shattered vows, all these new beginnings.
[16:28] Hasn't your Christian life been a story of new beginnings? So much so that you wonder if you ever began at all until now and you've said to the Lord that you'll pray more and your heart comes and says well where are these prayers now?
[16:46] And all these times that you tried to kick start your daily reading program and your heart comes and says the last time you went to your daily reading the marker was still at last week.
[16:57] And all these times you said you would get up early to pray more and more fervently and you still haven't succeeded and your heart comes and accuses you how can you be a Christian with the blemishes that you've performed under grace with the nature of a new person that you profess to have and all these little sins and perhaps not so little that you said I must get round to dealing with this sin and eradicating this sin and getting it out of my life completely.
[17:30] I mean it's not as if you haven't confessed it. You confessed it once, twice, three times, four times and you're ashamed to come to God with the same confession but you have to because the same sin is there.
[17:44] It keeps being born again in your sinful heart and your heart comes and says how can you be a Christian? Here you are tonight Thursday of another communion and you're looking forward to the Lord's day and you've come here so often in the past.
[18:01] You look at your heart tonight and your life tonight and it's every bit as bad if not worse as it was the last time you were here and your heart is ready to condemn you and it has many, many arguments against you.
[18:19] I know that Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. I know that. We're not ignorant of his devices. He's going round like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
[18:33] But you know this, supposing he didn't exist at all. There is an accuser inside every bit as devilish as him.
[18:49] And when he starts accusing me my heart says yes, there you are. You're not a Christian at all. This isn't something periodic.
[19:00] It's not something sporadic. It's something that is relentless in the experience of the children of God. Whenever your heart condemns you and your conscience smites you and you know you've let yourself down and the Lord down and the church down, how can you ever say that you are a child of God?
[19:29] And your heart simply says, I rest my case. Well, where are you going to go then when your heart condemns you?
[19:43] John tells you where to go. You appeal the case. You don't let your heart have the final word. You appeal your case to a greater authority.
[19:57] Most days I love being a Presbyterian. My Presbyterianism taught me a long time ago that decisions made within the fellowship of the brothers are not inerrant always and not infallible.
[20:14] we can disagree in love and dissent from decisions and if we're aggrieved we can appeal them to a higher court from session to presbytery from presbytery to general assembly even at the general assembly we can dissent and we can appeal to the head of the church.
[20:40] There is a high court to which you can go and John is taking you there. He's pointing out to you tonight that whenever your heart accuses you with all its skill and all its oratory in the court of your self-awareness and says to you you cannot be a Christian you appeal the argument to God.
[21:05] God is greater than your heart and he knows everything. that means that he knows everything that your heart tells you about yourself.
[21:19] He knows all that. He knows these sins. He knows these little sins and these big sins. He knows every law breaking. He knows every broken vow and every broken promise.
[21:30] He knows all that. He knows everything about you. and perhaps that's one of the reasons you say to yourself well knowing me as he does surely he cannot be my father and I cannot be his son.
[21:54] Depart from me I am a sinful man oh Lord. But you know it's part of the glory of grace that at the very moment that you feel as Augustine puts it at the very moment when you feel that you should flee from God is the point that you must flee to God because God is greater than your heart and he actually knows more than these condemning arguments from within he knows his own work within he knows what is begun in your heart he knows that these things that are a burden to you tonight these great weights the crushing weight of an accusing heart he knows that that would not be a burden to you were it not for the work of his grace begun in your experience he knows that such feelings are not found among the dead he knows that it's only the living who complain as the psalmist did that they have a disease that fills them with pain and that leaves them restless and disquieted and not pleased at all with themselves or with their own performance
[23:31] God knows not only that you've done against him what you've done but he knows what he's done in you that's leaving you wrestling with that whole question of the presence of sin in your life and the presence of the very lawlessness that you do not want to be there he knows all that but he knows more than that he knows what he's he knows his own work in you but he also knows his own work for you and tonight the glory of the gospel is that he is not looking on you the way your heart is looking on itself he's looking at you tonight in and through the very provision that he made for you as a sinner and for me as a sinner he's looking at you through what he has done at Calvary in the giving of his son
[24:31] I mean he looked at his son at Calvary and there he saw these things that are such a burden to you tonight he saw these sins he looked at Calvary he saw you there and he crushed him and made him the sacrifice the very one who knew no sin he made him to be sin for us and what he did there for you is so absolutely perfect in every element of that atoning work that God who knows all things knows that there is a perfection of forgiveness and redemption and atonement for you in and through Jesus Jesus Jesus Christ and he knows what you forgotten he knows the ways in which that grace has manifested itself in your life don't you just love that picture of the judgment when
[25:35] Christ says to his people come inherit the kingdom when I was sick you visited me and they say to him when did we do that God knows all things he knows all things he knows when you did that you forgotten it it's little comfort to you now that you did it when your heart is condemning you for new sins as well as old sins but God hasn't forgotten it when I was in prison you visited me when I was naked you clothed me and you ministered to me he says God knows all that he knows the way his work has outcropped in your life in service in deed in truth he knows all of that he knows all the tears of repentance that you've shed over all these sins he's not ashamed of your confession though he's heard the same one over and over again he invites you to come and to confess your sins listen to the way he says it if we confess our sins says
[26:43] John he is faithful and just there it is these are his perfections his faithfulness his absolute fidelity to his covenant promise and his justice mean that if you confess your sins to him he will forgive your sins but aren't you glad the verse doesn't end there God knows all things and he is ready to forgive even the sins you haven't confessed and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness your heart condemns you over a little but he is ready to hear the appeal over everything so I want to know tonight how do I appeal my case to the great judge of all the earth how do
[27:46] I do that here I am locked in to a never ending battle with my own condemning heart and my own accusing conscience how do I appeal my case to him where will I find the lawyer skilled enough to put the arguments together to appeal my case to the judge of all the earth where will I find the mechanism we know how judges work and how courts work and how the system and its wheels grind so slowly how will you ever get your case to him do I need great ability do I need great skill do I need great oratory no he says all you need is a desire don't you love that all my desires are before you that's what the psalmist said and of my heart the secret groan not hidden is from thee one desire is the channel of the appeal one heavenward look the tax the tax collector in the temple had it didn't he he would not even lift his eyes to heaven but he smote his breast because his heart was looking to heaven god as my heart condemns even now be merciful to me the sinner i wonder sometimes if john got this language from the incident that he records concerning peter it's so familiar to us isn't it following the three fold denial when peter said these will fail you but i won't fail you there's classic isn't it what i'm not going to do for jesus others will fail others will fall but i'll go with you to prison and to death do you know this man no never seen him in my life stop asking me three times he denied any knowledge of his saviour so after breakfast after the resurrection one remarkable day jesus just took peter aside and said what now do you love me more than they do that's what you said you said you love me more than they do do you love me more than they do yes lord i love you and so jesus begins to pick him up but not before he asks him a second time and a third time to echo the denial in the restoration and the restoration from the denial and peter was grieved that he said the third time because his heart was still condemning him and still accusing him what does he do in that moment he does exactly what john says here he appeals his case to the omniscience of christ you know all things you know that
[31:46] i love you it's the only place to go is to appeal to a higher court and the desire of the heart of the christian carries the case to god what then well then god god gives his verdict he gives it in the gospel doesn't he he writes it down there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus that's it black and white that's the final decision of the highest court your heart condemns you has done in the past has done in the present is doing so right now but whenever your heart condemns you god is greater than your heart he knows everything about you about his work in you about his work for you about the evidences of grace in your life he sees much more than you do he knows all things and he says to you neither do
[33:00] I condemn you there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus I love the Puritan who said having sinned against the law you are not now justified in sinning against the gospel you you've broken the law that's what sin means you haven't kept it the way you wanted the way you hoped the way you desired but having sinned against the law don't now sin against the gospel not when the gospel comes to you with such glorious colors and such magnificent affirmations and says to you who is he that condemn us
[34:03] Christ has died yea rather is risen again he's on the right hand of God making intercession for us that's our gospel that's what we're called to proclaim and herald and emblazon in all our pulpits and gospel proclamations he has died and borne the penalty and the cross is there there is a dead Christ for me to come to tonight and his blood cleanses from all unrighteousness you remember how the hymn writer put it bowed down beneath a load of sin by satan sorely pressed by war without and fears within I come to thee for rest be thou my shield and hiding place that sheltered by thy side
[35:04] I may my fierce accuser face and tell him well tell him what what will I tell my fierce accuser will I tell him that I've tried to be good will I tell him that I'll be better tomorrow will I tell him that I'll sort out the mess I shall my fierce accuser face and tell him thou hast died that's all I can do but if I do that I have done everything that needs to be done my heart suddenly has no argument anymore it cannot condemn me and so I have confidence before
[36:05] God and whatever I ask I receive from him because I keep his commandment and do what pleases him and this is his commandment that I believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and I acquiesce in the final verdict of the superior judge against the sentence of the lower court so that in my soul whenever my heart condemns me I come to him to the rock of ages and I say thou hast died if you are not looking to the cross tonight there is no appeal against the sentence of your heart tells you that you're a sinner and
[37:22] God agrees but if you're trusting in Christ tonight his blood cleanses still from all unrighteousness you'll be back in that court before long it won't be long before your heart has another case against you but against its relentless condemnation of what you are as a Christian you come to God by way of the cross and let the blood quieten your conscience so that you can truly go to that table and take the bread and hear him say this is my body broken for you
[38:24] Amen may God bless his word to us this evening