1 John 3, beginning at verse 16, and the title of the message today is, God Our Confidence, the Word of God. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love in words or in tongue, but with actions and in truth. This, then, is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. Whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. The word of the Lord, let us pray. Father, thank you for this portion of your word. May you take it and direct it to our hearts and minds and strengthen each one now. For Jesus' sake we ask it, amen. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. We're in the midst of studying the great love chapters of 1 John chapters 3 and 4, and right here in the middle are some of the most poignant comforting verses, and at the same time, some of the most challenging verses to us that we can look at in the whole Bible. They're words that bring such comfort. They're the rock, the foundation of our faith, the gospel. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And yet at the same time of great conviction, we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers, especially when our money is concerned, as John goes on to warn us in verses 17 and 18. Now I may be willing to give my time to somebody, maybe even lay down my life for somebody close to me, but my money? Now that's another story. But we find here that right here in the middle of these great love chapters, 1 John 3 and 4, they're challenging and convicting and start to pull all these verses together and they really lift us up and at the same time challenge us. Verse 10 of chapter 3, this is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning, we should love one another. 4 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love. And then 11 and 12, dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. And 19, we love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command. Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. Wow. No wonder this is so challenging to us. Who of us loves like that? What John is calling us to is nothing less than to love like God loves us. And I don't know about you, but I don't really measure up even my best intentions with family. We did pretty well during our move. We didn't snap too much. I heard that giggle in the back. God is gracious and we had some very gracious men moving us that really understand what families go through and supported us. But it's not just about moving and the transition and all the changes that are involved. It's about the love that has to undergird everything as you work together as a family. And so this challenge to love can be very convicting. But John, in his wisdom as a pastor, focuses on the flip side of that, which is we often feel condemned because of how we fall short. And this is our focus in verses 19 to 21. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. And how often do we feel condemned in our lives? Thoughts come up and you know as I mentioned Friday was moving day and so it was going through 40 years of stuff over the past six months. Well, some were working six months ago. And it came down to, in this last week, sorting and sorting and sorting some more, and then making choices what to keep, what to throw out, and just throwing stuff in boxes, and we'll sort it out later. And it just gets to the point that you just start tossing And the thought comes to mind, you can't take it with you. And how often, it's not only true of our material possessions, but it's also true of our thoughts and memories and actions and words. We have a lot of memories, good and bad. We store them up. And every now and then, those memories come out. They come spewing out sometimes. Sometimes they're fond memories. And we know about that, those memories, and what they can do to us, how they can condemn us, right? And so we have to make a choice, don't we? Are we going to let them linger, or are we going to toss them away? And this is what John is calling us to here in verse 19. Well, actually, yes. Verse 19, this then is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. John was well aware, even in his own self, the struggle of condemnation and setting his heart, setting our hearts at rest whenever our hearts condemn us. We have a choice to make. And because we know about those regrets and disappointments and choices we've made that made a lot of difference in our lives. And how do you handle that when they come to mind? Well, Paul, of course, tells us in Philippians, we're to forget what is behind and to reach out to what is before, the upward call that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And that is to be part of our daily race, our daily progress of moving forward in the Lord. And so here in John, he invites us to this walk, to this life of constantly setting our hearts at rest whenever our hearts condemn us. Of course, there's a difference between condemnation and conviction, isn't there? Conviction comes by the spirit and the word. It's usually specific. It may be recent. But when our hearts condemn us, it's usually something that's vague. Something that lingers from the past even from our teenage years that oh, why did I do that? Why did I think that why did I say that and of course Satan his very name means accuser, right? And that's what he loves to do. He loves to keep bringing those things up Now maybe there are people we need to forgive and or that we need to ask forgiveness people that maybe let you down truly And at the same time, how many people have we disappointed ourselves? And how much has the Lord forgiven you? How much has the Lord forgiven me? He's opened his arms this wide, hasn't he, to make that forgiveness for you and me possible. And so that is the standard, that is the call. infinite forgiveness of our God and Heavenly Father. And yet, we certainly need to be convicted at times, but there's also John in his wisdom warning us against whenever our hearts condemn us. Now, how often do we hear in modern thinking, follow your heart, right? Just follow your heart. There might be some truth to that. You know, we want to you know, when it comes down to choices that are the same, you know, what do you really love? What's your really heart's desire? There's some blessing and wisdom in that and the existential progress of making a decision. But you can't just follow your heart, right? There's gotta be other elements that come into play when you're making a decision or when you're trying to figure things out. And, you know, Pope Paul writes in Romans chapter 12, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your heart, no, by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve the perfect will of God, his good and pleasing and perfect will. And so the writer of Proverbs says, above all, Proverbs 4.23, above all, guard your hearts. for out of it flows the wellspring of life. And that's, I believe, what John is getting at here in verses 19 and 20 through 20, really the strategy that we need to take to heart every day when we get going in our lives. This is the way that you're going to set your heart at rest whenever we feel condemned. And to set your heart at rest, we need to convince ourselves, to convince ourselves every day. It's almost like a daily conversion, a daily repentance, turning away from ourselves and setting our hearts at rest in the promises of our Heavenly Father. It's what it means to deny yourself daily and take up your cross and follow Him wherever He leads. Even as a preacher, I've been reminded I need to preach to myself, remind myself of what I know to be true, to be anxious for nothing, to cast all your cares upon the Lord, for he cares for you, to not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, because love covers a multitude of sins. And when we do fall, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, because the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Amen? Amen. And these are just verses that we all should be grounding our lives in and turning to on a daily basis because how quickly we fall into the pattern of, well, I can handle this. instead of running to our Lord. Now the Lord gives us wisdom and skill for godly living, but it's as we seek him in all these things that he will direct our paths. And to learn the lesson of humility as we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, then he will exalt you in due season. And so we can say that for ourselves and we need to say that for us as a body of Christ, a congregation of his people. As we humble ourselves under his mighty hand, he will exalt us in due season. And so here is how you and I are to set our hearts as rest how we convince ourselves every day as we take God's promises take God's promises to heart in his spirit and in his word here's the way that God convinces us and will set our hearts at rest whenever our hearts condemn us and we notice how the great apostle John the disciple that Jesus loved, the beloved disciple. He's writing here in the third person, isn't he? He includes himself in this as we see. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. Whenever our hearts condemn us for God is greater than our hearts. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, We have confidence before God. What John is really describing here is not a formula, but a process, right? The process of growing in our lives back and forth like the waves of the sea. That's what our lives are like. We get knocked down at times, but then the Lord is there to pick us up and set our hearts at rest. that continues and continues and he's at work and John knew it well for himself and so God's word is there to convince us to affirm our blessed assurance like verses from Romans 8 and verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. We need to take that verse as the very foundation of our lives every day, whenever our hearts condemn us, so that our hearts might be set at rest. So that's the process. Keep on. Keep on trusting. Keep on convincing. Keeping on claiming the promises of God which are yes and amen in Jesus Christ our Lord. So whenever our hearts condemn us, We have this go-to to set our hearts at rest as by God's grace, we convince ourselves by his spirit and his word of his promises, which are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And as we go through that process every day, then we can have the confidence that John is talking about in the closing verses of our text. As he says there in verse 20, if one, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. Here's our confidence. You and I, as you and I are in Jesus Christ, as you belong to Jesus and Jesus belongs to you. Now, Confidence is a good thing, isn't it? You have to have confidence in life, and confidence often comes from experience, from trial and error, from somebody mentoring you and encouraging you, and you gain confidence in whatever skills the Lord has given you, and confidence in driving, confidence in work, confidence in relationship, all these things are just part of the growing process that we go through in life. And yet, we have to be aware, as people of faith, that we have to have much more than self-confidence. We need to have God-confidence, don't we? We need to have God-confidence. In my Bible reading, I use this one-year daily Bible I've told you about. in my Bible app, and I found it's a real blessing as I'm doing my stretches and my exercises, trying to get through the Bible each day, read a different passage, and listen to a little devotional. And so, Nikki Gumbel was talking about self-confidence versus God-confidence. And self-confidence, of course, is valuing yourself over against God. Ultimately, that's arrogance. But God-confidence is all of God's grace. It's valuing yourself in and through Christ, who you are in the presence of Christ as Christ has made you for himself, as you belong to him. Confidence that everybody else aims for is a self-reliance, but confidence in the world that is unseen, In the spiritual realm, in God's world, involves confidence in His presence and His plan. So, this is another way of finding that rest, of convincing ourselves, asking, well, where's my confidence today? Am I immediately prying out to the Lord and giving the day over to Him? That's one of the things I appreciate about our contractor. He's been at it for four years. We're getting there, really are. But every time we greet one, we know the first thing he's gonna do is say, let's pray. And we chuckle about it, but really it's been very humbling and a very good example to us. And the Lord's blessed him and blessed us because of him. And that humble reminder to us of giving everything, even your tiling All the paining and all the little odds and ends that go with getting things done, giving it over to the Lord. That's what one does. He puts it into practice. He lives it. He lives it. How many of us are willing to say, okay, let's take time and pray about this as we go forward in this process? So where is our confidence? And, is something the challenge for us every day relying on the Lord whom we cannot see but is there for us because we belong to him we live in in his presence. As John puts it there in verse 19, we belong to the truth, that truth that is found in Christ Jesus. It's all about that little preposition, in, our union, our union with Jesus Christ. and as we are convinced of that then we can set our hearts, God will set our hearts at rest because we have confidence before him as he is actually living in and through us day by day and moment by moment. Now in my visits and rounds this past week I had a couple conversations with people, very lovely people that were just coming on our care and not going to be on our care too long. And they were people of faith. And as I do, I try to sit by their bedside and encourage them and ask them about their faith. In both cases, one lady gave me this response when I asked her about her faith. She said, I'm a Presbyterian. And another man, I greeted. The first thing out of his mouth when he found out I was a chaplain, he says, I'm a churchman. Is that the answer you would want to give? Is that what you're banking on? They're lovely people. I hope there is a genuine faith there. I've gone to grace all these years. I've been a part, I've hung in there to the end. Who are we trusting in? What are we trusting in? Jesus Christ is our only hope in life. and in death. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus our Lord." Are you in Christ today? We're lying on Him alone. Well, as I mentioned, we're in our new house. We're in our new abode. We have a new abode we're going to be dwelling in for a few years. If the Lord gives us strength, Now, my question to my dear wife is this. Honey, when are we going to have some people over? Isn't that the whole point of our house? We're going to show hospitality and open our home. Why don't you all come over this afternoon? I don't think I want to be going home this afternoon, actually. Living out of boxes and throwing stuff out has reminded me, I don't know about your life, but my life is a lot like that, our new home, right now. We're living out of boxes. There's no place to even sit. And the outside looks pretty good, especially with the snow and all that, but inside, and in my inner man, I don't know about you, but I know that my life's a mess. I'm broken, and I can't fix it. I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm a great sinner, and yet I have a great savior. Even my faith is a gift from the Lord himself. And so that's where John ends up here, to how God is our confidence. Listen to these verses again, verse 20. Whenever our hearts condemn us, For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. There's no place to hide. Our sovereign God knows us better than we know ourselves. We so quickly deceive ourselves, our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, but God knows it all already. He's greater than our hearts. If our hearts do not condemn us, then we have confidence before God. Well, that's a good note to end on. Just contemplating what it means that God is greater than our hearts. Jared Packer, talks about, asks the question, God's best. You know, we want to do our best for God, don't we? But our confidence is in the fact and the hope that God, our Almighty Father in heaven, has done and is doing his best for us. And to me, I think that has to do with God's greatness for us. You know, we've said in these chapters that God is love. And so as we think of the love we try to show to others, that means we're gonna try our very best, we're gonna do the best we can to show love to other people, even in the midst of moving. But what is your best? What is my best? And how does that compare to our Heavenly Father's best? God is love himself. Packer puts it this way, God also and always does the best he can. He always, God always does the best he can. And the measure of the best that God can do is nothing less than omnipotence, than everything, than the almighty power of God. That's the best that God is giving to you and to me with every second of every day. His very best because he sent his son to die for you. He loved you from before the beginning of time from all eternity. And so there is now, therefore now, no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. Behold what manner of love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. No greater love than this, far beyond all that we could ask or imagine, that we will be confident in that day. Let us pray. Lord, thank you For the author and finisher of our faith, thank you, thank you, that it's not of ourselves, totally of you and your grace to us. O Lord, increase our faith, help us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the one that is greater than all our sin, and renew us and draw us close to you, Lord. May we never take our eyes off you. Thank you that you don't take your eyes off us. For Jesus' sake, amen.