The second lesson this morning is from 1 John 3. We'll be reading verses 16 through the end of the chapter, but we'll focus on verses 18 through 20. Hear God speak to us again. By this we know love. that he lay down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. 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. 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. 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, whoever keeps his commandments abides in him and he in them, and by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. You may be seated. Those of you who have been around over past many months know that periodically when pastors on vacation, I have an opportunity to exhort you from the word of God. And over the last several times I've done that, I've done it from the first part of the book of first John. And that brings us to our text this morning. I have to also say that, as usual, I am leaning on Dr. Wes Bredenhoff, who's from the Free Reform Church of Launceston in Tasmania, Australia. So I've gone halfway around the world for a pastor's message to lean on. Let's look at verses 18 through 20 together. There was a woman who came to her pastor and confessed that when she was young, she had had two abortions as a teenager. She had asked God numerous times to forgive her. but she was still nearly paralyzed by guilt. The guilt was overwhelming and negatively affected her personal and spiritual life. It was even causing problems in her marriage. In another case, a senior citizen and an active member in the church came to his pastor and confessed a sin he'd committed over 60 years previously. At one level, he knew that he was forgiven because he'd confessed his sin numerous times to God. Yet he couldn't break free from the feeling of condemnation. He didn't really know what it was like to live in the joy of faith. These two examples illustrate a problem, a problem which some Christians seem to struggle with a condemning conscience. Our conscience measures and regulates the guilt we feel in our heart. If we are unrepentant, our guilty conscience is a blessing. But if we have truly repented, an overactive conscience can greatly hinder our walk with our Lord. Paul speaks of a seared conscience in 1 Timothy 4, verse 2. That kind of conscience is no longer affected by sin. The sense of guilt is nearly or completely removed. But that's not what we're talking about this morning. That kind of conscience is not what the passage addresses. We want to see how God's word addresses an overly sensitive conscience, one which feels overwhelming guilt when we have truly repented. We want to see what God has to say about the conscience which continues to condemn and accuse. What if we have vague feelings of guilt and just don't know why, when we don't feel accepted by God? Maybe you're not one who has such an overly sensitive conscience. Maybe you've not experienced this. If so, you may have opportunity to use what you hear from this passage to help others who do have sensitive consciences, overly sensitive. When you encounter a fellow brother who has this difficulty, you can show them how God's word addresses the problem. John, the Apostle John, the author of this text, was a tender-hearted pastor. In the first chapters that we looked at, we see how he has guarded and protected the saints under his care, some who were responding or trying to deal with heresies that were entering into the church. But he knew just what they needed. They were his flock. His tender heart called them little children, showing the kind of affection he had for them. He did this in the most affectionate way. It was true, not just a means of address. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the beautiful words of our text. Yes, John wrote the letter to minister to his people, but it was truly the Holy Spirit that wrote it for our good as well. He knew that many believers were being troubled by a sort of perfectionism. We have that in our day. There are denominations that teach when you come to faith in Christ, you don't sin again. That you're made perfect. That that was who you used to be, but you don't sin anymore. These people claimed to be Christians and said they didn't sin anymore. They said, to be a real Christian, you have to be sinless. It appears certain believers fell into the wrong way of thinking. They said, unless I am sinless, God will not accept me. They saw all the sin in their lives and started to condemn themselves. All the joy of being a child of God was gone for them. They'd say, how can I be a Christian? How can God accept me when I go on sinning? That conclusion would have been spiritually disastrous for someone with a condemning conscience, an overly sensitive conscience. The apostle John knew this, and he clearly perceived both the problem and the solution. Our passage today shows us God's solution for a condemning conscience in two ways that we'll address this morning. First, sober self-examination, and secondly, focused faith. So to begin with, sober self-examination. The Holy Spirit, speaking to us in Scripture, always knows just how to address a problem. Our text stresses the love which believers are to have for one another. Verse 11 in this chapter says, this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. In verses 17 and 18, we hear, if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. The point is that for love to be true, it must show itself in deeds. Do you really have the love of God in your heart if your brother is starving and you see it and just pass him by? Do you love in truth? What truer love is there than that of our Lord Jesus? He loved us in his actions. Verse 16, by this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. The point is that love cannot hide in a closet of words. It must live in the daylight of deeds. This love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Love for our brothers is an inescapable fruit of regeneration. If God has given us new life, there must be new love in us. Chapter four of this epistle, verse 21, says, whoever loves God must also love his brother. And in verse 19 of our text, by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. Our loving with concrete deeds is one of the means by which we gain certainty that we belong to the truth. that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. In that same Gospel, chapter 8, verse 44, we're told, The devil does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Christ is the truth. Satan is the liar. The lie or the truth, which are we a part of? Sober, self-examination. When we love indeed, we can be sure that we belong to the seed of the woman. We can be sure that we are children of God and not children of the devil. Because this is true, we must do some sober self-examination. We need to ask ourselves the question, do I show acts of love which would be unnatural for me if I wasn't a believer? When we ask a question like that, we're not looking for perfection. We're looking for evidence that God's Holy Spirit is at work in our lives. We want to see the growth and progress the Holy Spirit has worked in us over the years, even if it is minimal. In chapter three, verse two of this epistle, We're told, beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. Perfection isn't here yet, but we are already children of God. And we can see this in his work in our lives. This sober self-examination is one of the means by which we can have assurance that we belong to God. This is also part of how we can set our hearts at rest in his presence. Verses 19 and 20, 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. That brings us then to the need of a focused faith. When the troublemaker comes around and acts like a judge, pointing the finger and pronouncing judgment, saying, you're not worthy to be accepted by God. Then we need to have our hearts set at rest. We need our hearts to be reminded that yes, by ourselves, we are unworthy, but there's much more to be said. We need to be reminded of the evidence in our lives that we belong to the truth. that we are not children of the devil, but sons and daughters of God. We're told in our text to set our hearts at rest. What that literally means is that we have to pacify our hearts through persuasion. Sometimes we make fun of people who talk to themselves, but the reality is that we all do it at various times, at least in our heads. That's what our text is calling us to do when we have a malfunctioning moral thermostat, a faulty conscience. Say to yourself, stop it. Look at the fruit of the Spirit in my life. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. I love God and I also love others. By grace and through the Savior, I am acceptable to God. Through all of this, we need to look at ourselves the way God does, but we also need to better understand who God is, and that's why we need a focused faith. When we say that God's solution for a condemning conscience requires focused faith, we should be clear what we mean. It means that we need a faith that is in focus, just like you might focus a camera before taking a picture. We need to have a faith which sees God clearly for who he is, that sees God according to how he has revealed himself in his word. In other words, this solution requires that we do not have a distorted faith, a distorted picture of who God is. In this connection, we should note that our text speaks in the first person plural. This then is how we know, how we set our hearts at rest. And it's not only that, but everything here is active. The verbs are not passive. It doesn't say this is how it will be made known. It doesn't say this is how your hearts will be set at rest. It says this is how we know that they are. The text is calling us to action. We are called to look beyond ourselves. We are called to look to God, since setting our hearts at rest takes place in his presence, before him, in his sight. The condemning conscience is not something that can be addressed in isolation from the one who gave us the conscience. So when conscience points the condemning finger at us, we are to have a focused faith on God. We have to see God for who he truly is. So who is he? He is revealed in our text as the one greater than our hearts and the one who knows everything. That means he knows our weaknesses, but more importantly, as a loving father, he also sees the work of his spirit in us. God sees the fruit of his saving work, even when we cannot. God knows all things, which our heart does not know when it condemns us. God's love is greater than the love we might have for ourselves. Martin Luther put it this way, Conscience is but a single drop, but the reconciled God is an ocean of consolation. The reconciled God does not know us as objects of his wrath, but as objects of his grace. He isn't the stern judge who pronounces the condemning judgment, rather he looks upon us as a loving father looks upon his children. He can do that because his justice has been satisfied by the work of Christ. Even when we do sin, there is still the love of the Father. Chapter two, verse one of the epistle says, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. God is our father through Jesus Christ. He is ours and we are his. We can confidently say that in Christ we are accepted and acceptable. So what must be done with the heart or conscience that condemns? It must be taught and reminded that God is greater than us. We need to remind ourselves constantly that God's love for us is greater than the things we think about ourselves. The Father's love is greater than the feelings we have about ourselves and also greater than our shortcomings. God can and does forgive where there is true faith. An important part of God's forgiveness is that he does not remember our sin. Jeremiah 31 verse 34 and Hebrews 10 verse 17. They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. If we are in Christ, if he is truly paid for our sins, and he has clothed us in his righteousness, we are trusting him alone for our reconciliation to the Father, then we are the Father's children. And it doesn't matter what we think about ourselves. It doesn't negate the truth about God and his marvelous forgiveness. Though we may remember our sins often, In the examples, one since being a teenager, the other 60 years previously, we may remember our sins a long time, but our father does not. It's not that he doesn't know about them, but he doesn't bring them up. If we've been forgiven through true repentance, through the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit, then the father loves us and he's promised to finish the work in us. we will see the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We will see love from our hearts for God and for his people. When it comes to our sins and weaknesses, our conscience can only point the finger. It can never keep our loving Father's forgiveness from us. Our overwhelming sense of guilt may feel like an obstruction to our fellowship with God. But that is not the truth. God knows all things. The blood of his son was poured out for us, and thus, from chapter one, verse three, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. We are united to Christ. God is greater than us. He brings comfort and consolation to us by revealing himself in his word. and by showing his glory in the lives of believers. We must look to God as he has revealed himself to us. When our conscience condemns us, when the guilt seems unbearable, flee to the word and see God for who he is. He's the judge who takes off his robes and goes home to his children. He comes in the door and embraces them and holds them dearly. So, in conclusion, by now you might have the idea that a large part of the problem with a condemning conscience is the tendency to have a distorted image of God. Considering God as our judge, the conscience dwells on our failures rather than on God. This distorted view is not the full image of God. It makes God into someone more harsh and less loving than he truly is. We are making God into somebody else than who he has revealed himself to be in his word. If this is our problem, We need to have a change of mind. We need to turn away from the distortion. The only way to do that is by attention to scripture. Only by studying who God is in his word can we have a focused faith, one which clearly sees God for who he is, the one greater than our hearts. A condemning conscience can rob us of the joy of our salvation. It is God's Word that can set our hearts at rest, that can give us the antidote to such a conscience. Only the Bible can suck out the poison of a condemning conscience by giving us focused faith. We must recognize that our conscience is a gift from God. It is not to be despised or ignored. When it is functioning normally, we should listen to it. That is when it is informed by scripture. Often the sense of guilt is a good thing pointing to something wrong, something we need to repent of. When we feel guilt, we need to pay attention to chapter 1, verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we have confessed, asked for forgiveness, and turned, even if it is the 70 times 7th time, we need to pay attention to verse 20 of our text. Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything. We have to recognize that under the influence of Satan or the remains of our old nature, our conscience may be trying to erode our relationship with God. That's when we need to engage in sober self-examination. That's when we need to bring our faith in God back into focus using the scriptures. We need to recognize when that happens that we're doing something that not even God himself does, casting a verdict of condemnation upon ourselves, even though we cling to Christ. Really, what we're doing is making ourselves higher judges and far less just than God himself. Brothers, when we experience the trial of a condemning conscience or not, let us all make sure that we're focused properly on Christ and on the adequacy of his finished work. Let us look to God, who is greater than us, so that we can begin to receive a delicious foretaste of the abundant joy which awaits us in the new heavens and the new earth, when our consciences will at last always be at rest. Amen. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is all wisdom and understanding, we ask that you would move us forward to attain true knowledge and godly understanding of your blessed will, which you have graciously given us in your most holy word. Give us grace to put our whole trust and confidence in you, our eternal God alone. Grant that we would, with all reverence, tremble in your presence and have true fear of offending your godly majesty. May our lives be ruled according to the precise instruction of your word. Deliver us from superstition, error, and blindness of heart to the dignity and honor that you communicate to us. Sanctify our whole lives to the praise and glory of your holy name. that we would all edify and comfort one another through the fellowship you have established. We pray for these things as our Lord Jesus taught us, saying, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.