God Greater Than Our Hearts

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (1 John 3:18-24)

When the Bible leaves you disturbed and condemned, here is the hope: God is greater than your heart.

Two Groups of People

If you've been following along with what John has been saying in this letter and you are not a little concerned about your own spiritual condition, your own salvation, then you may not be paying attention. As my wonderful dad says, "If you're paying anything, pay attention." It's important to consider what the Scriptures say—and some of what they say can be very challenging and convicting.

John's core point is that there are two distinct groups of people in the world: the children of God and the children of the devil. It's a stark contrast. He describes how we can identify each. The children of God practice righteousness, and the ultimate demonstration of that righteousness is to walk in love—a self-sacrificial love. As verse 16 says, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

The children of the devil do not practice righteousness and lack this love. In its place is hatred, which can be manifested as murder. John uses Cain in Genesis 4 to show this. So his point is clear: if you do not practice righteousness as demonstrated through sacrificial love, you are not a child of God. It doesn't matter what you say about yourself; it's what the demonstration of your life says about you that matters more.

The Disturbance Is Good

With that kind of clarity, it's hard not to be rattled. The commentator John Stott said, "The Christian's serene assurance may be disturbed by this text." That's an understatement. Stott notes that some English translations of verse 20 say "whenever our heart condemns us," suggesting this feeling of conviction may not be unusual or infrequent.

As a side note: if you find yourself unsettled when you read the Bible, you're actually doing it the right way. If there's a heaviness because of the conviction Scripture brings, that's a good thing. But if when you come to the Bible you only find things your spouse needs to fix, you're not reading it correctly. The Bible should be more of a mirror by which we see ourselves than a lens through which we see others.

We can fall into the temptation of hearing the Bible taught as something other people need to do—hearing a convicting message and thinking, "So-and-so really needs this." But God wants to speak to us directly. James tells us we come to Scripture as a mirror, so that we would be doers of the word and not hearers only. Hebrews says the word is a sharp two-edged sword that divides joint and marrow, soul and spirit, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. Sometimes it's frightening to see the true condition of our hearts, and it can bring us to question whether we are children of God.

Making Your Calling Sure

That's not to say the Christian won't have assurance of salvation. We can and should have assurance of our place with God—that's what John is driving home in this text. But to have that assurance, we need to do what Peter exhorts in 2 Peter 1:10: "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure." We need to exert some effort toward being absolutely certain of our position with God.

How do we do that? Peter prescribes a grouping of steps, and John does basically the same thing here. Verse 18: "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him." Love displayed in deed and truth assures me of my standing before God. It's easy to mouth the words of love; it's quite different to walk it out. But when we see that love displayed in our own lives, it assures us of our standing with God.

The Religious Answer Versus the Right Answer

Why is this true? There's a religious answer and a right answer. The religious answer says I earn my good standing with God by my good works. Many of you have lived for a time thinking that if you just did A, B, C, X, Y, Z—even good Bible things—you would earn your right standing with God.

That religious approach is problematic for three reasons. First, it bolsters pride. If keeping a set of rules to some standard earns my standing, how do I measure the standard? I look at other people who don't keep them as well as I do. We're really good at picking out, "I'm doing way better than that guy."

Second, it destroys peace. On the outside we put up a show, but when we're alone in any contemplation, we find ourselves distressed. There's no rest in religion because we always have to do more to catch up. I think this is part of why we live in a culture that distracts itself with constant noise, so we never have to wrestle with the internal struggle that we're not living up to the standard.

Third, there is no fullness of joy. This series has been called "Fullness of Joy" because of 1 John 1:4, "I write these things so that your joy may be full." But living religiously after rules to make ourselves right before God, we will never have that fullness of joy.

The Genetic Marker of Love

The right answer is the scriptural one John gives. In 3:10, "Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother." In 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren." And again in verse 18. The genetic marker of sacrificial love is the proof that I am God's child.

When God makes us His children by grace through faith, He transforms us from the inside out, and we begin to see the genetic marker of sacrificial love—His Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are His children. Paul says it in Galatians 5:22: "The fruit of the Spirit is love." And here's the amazing thing—the love of God at work in us produces the very things religion cannot: joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control.

I cannot emphasize this enough: we do not earn our position with God by our devotion or love. He has given us our position by His love. First John 3:1: "Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God." That you are God's child today is according to His great love, not my devotion or sacrifice. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." And 3:16: "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us."

When Our Heart Condemns Us

John has created this stark dichotomy. In light of it, we can be disturbed, because when we look at ourselves we sometimes question whether we have this love in us. You don't have to raise your hand, but have you ever wondered, "Am I really displaying the love of God? Am I really a child of God?" The questions abound when we don't live up to the standard—when we find ourselves irritable or angry, when someone at home, at the office, on the construction site, or on the 15 freeway triggers us and suddenly something comes out and we wonder, "Where did that come from?"

Jesus made it clear in Mark 7—out of the heart proceed evil thoughts and evil actions. So we find ourselves in a place of conviction, even condemnation. John says, "If our heart condemns us"—yes, that's me from time to time—"God is greater than our heart, and knows all things." God's proclamation that I am His child supersedes the condemnation of my heart. That word condemns carries the sense of damnation; there's a way our heart damns us when we see ourselves against what Scripture calls us to. But God is greater than our heart.

Peter and Jesus by the Sea

The best demonstration of this is the exchange between Peter and Jesus in John 21. Some context: before Jesus' death, He told the disciples they would all stumble that night. Peter jumped to the front: "Lord, though all others stumble, I would never stumble; I would die with you." All the disciples echoed him. Jesus told Peter, "You will deny Me three times before the rooster crows." Peter insisted, "I would never deny You." But the spirit was willing and the flesh weak—before sunrise Peter denied Jesus, even cursing, "I do not know the man." Then the rooster crowed, he realized it, and he went and wept bitterly.

Do you think Peter's heart condemned him in that moment? He swore he would die with Jesus, then denied Him three times. He's questioning whether he's even a genuine follower. But Jesus reaches out to him. "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" Peter probably had a hard time with that question. "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." "Feed My lambs." A second time, "Do you love Me?" "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." "Tend My sheep." A third time, "Do you love Me?" Peter was grieved, and said, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Underline those words—the same words from 1 John 3: God knows all things.

The Four Words for Love

The full picture isn't clear in English, because our word love is deficient. We say "I love tacos," "I love my car," "I love my wife"—and I hope my love for my wife is far better than my love for tacos. In Greek there are at least four words for love; C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves is excellent on this.

The first time Jesus asks, "Do you love Me?" He uses agapao—a deep, devotional, sacrificial love, the love Paul defines in 1 Corinthians 13: love is patient, love is kind. So to this former denier who pledged he would die with Him, Jesus asks, "Peter, do you love Me with self-sacrificial devotion?" Peter responds with phileo—a real love, brotherly affection—but he cannot come up to the level Jesus asked. "Lord, You know that I phileo You."

A second time the same exchange. The third time, Jesus comes down to Peter's level and asks, "Peter, do you phileo Me?" That's when Peter, his heart utterly condemned, says, "Lord, You know all things." And Jesus says, "Feed My sheep."

Begotten According to His Mercy

There can be doubts in our hearts because our devotion seems far below what it ought to be, and we start to wonder whether we're even His children. Peter failed to love Jesus with self-sacrificial devotion after boldly proclaiming he would die with Him. But Jesus came back to him—because Jesus' relationship with Peter was not dependent on Peter's devotion or his ability to love as Jesus loved him. This is essential for us.

Decades later, the same Peter wrote, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). He did not say "according to my devotion and my great efforts." He says God made us His children according to His abundant mercy—to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, reserved in heaven for those kept by the power of God. Peter goes on: though grieved by various trials, the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, will be found to the praise and glory of Jesus; "whom having not seen you love... you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory."

How do you move from denier and self-condemned to that kind of confidence? Not according to your own works, but according to His grace.

Confidence to Come Without Reservation

Back to 1 John 3: "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God." How do we live without condemnation regarding our relationship with God? We recognize what the gospel says—our relationship is not because we've been so devoted to God, but because He has been so devoted to us; not because of what we've sacrificed for Him, but what He's sacrificed for us. As Paul writes in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."

My standing as God's child gives me confidence to come to Him without reservation. As a child of God I can come boldly before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace in my time of need. There's no hesitation, because I'm His. We don't have to go through the catalog—did I read enough chapters, give enough, serve enough—to come before God, because Christ has made the way open according to His mercy.

Verse 22: "Whatever we ask we receive from Him." There's much there we'll save for 1 John 5. He says we receive because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. Does that mean we earn good things by doing good things? No—it's all according to grace. As Stott says, obedience is the indispensable condition, not the meritorious cause, of answered prayer.

Abide in Him

What commands? Verse 23: "This is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another." Trust in the Lord and love one another. And he who keeps these commands abides in Him. Jesus told His disciples in John 15, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit apart from the vine, neither can you." We abide in Christ by trusting Him and loving one another, and as we abide in Him, He abides in us—and by this we know He abides in us, by the Spirit He has given us.

My place with God is on the basis of my faith as evidenced by my love. Religion says my place is on the basis of my hard work and good efforts. Christianity says my standing is on the basis of my faith as evidenced by my love. My trust in Christ has given me access to God; He has placed His Spirit in me, and the Spirit produces love. All of this is according to the great love of God demonstrated in Jesus on the cross.

This is why it's so central to hold before us continually the love of God. It is all according to His love, demonstrated in Jesus on the cross, that we have this access, this assurance, this standing with God. On that same night Peter pledged he would never deny Him—and all the disciples with him—Jesus took bread, broke it, and said, "This is My body, which is broken for you," and took the cup, "This is My blood of the new covenant, shed for you, for the remission of sins."

So we partake of communion—a little piece of bread reminding us of His body broken for us, and a little cup reminding us of His blood shed for us. There is no removal of sin apart from Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, apart from His blood shed for us, all to demonstrate God's love and grace toward us.

Closing Prayer

Father, I'm so grateful that we can have in You assurance, peace, rest, and fullness of joy because of what Your love has accomplished for us. I pray this morning that You would help us keep the picture of Your grace and Your love at the forefront of our minds, and that You would prepare our hearts now by Your Spirit for this time of communion. We are so thankful that You who knew no sin became sin for us, that we could receive righteousness, that we could receive Your love and grace, that we could be called Your sons and daughters. God, help us to rejoice in that today, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.