We're in 1 John 3 tonight. 1 John 3. I love our brother John. He's the disciple of the Lord.
He wrote the Gospel of John. And 1, 2, and 3 John as well.
I'll bring to your remembrance of the humility that the Lord
gave to John in writing the gospel that he wrote. He never referred
to himself as John. He never said who was writing
it. He never drew attention to himself. He never led you to
understand who it was. The only reason we know who it
was is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit putting the gospel
of John at the beginning of it. Otherwise, we wouldn't have known.
He always says, one whom the Lord loveth, one whom the Lord
loveth. I love that, his simplicity and
humility, just to say one whom the Lord loved. But here in John
chapter, first John chapter three. He actually starts out this letter
the same as he started out the gospel of John. You remember
the gospel of John is in the beginning was the word and the
word was with God and the word was God. And he goes on to say,
and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld
his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the father,
full of grace and truth. Now I'll draw your attention
back to chapter one again, and look how he starts this one.
That which was from the beginning. which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands
have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifest and
we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life. which was with the Father and was manifest unto us. He
starts it out the exact same way, doesn't he? Drawing the
attention to the Lord Jesus Christ being the Word of God, being
the salvation of God, being the life, being the light. All of these things are the exact
same thing. It's the finished work of the
Lord declared. He also gives us the clear meaning of his purpose
in writing this letter. And I didn't read that, I guess
I need to. But in verse four, if you look, he says in verse
one, chapter one, verse four, 1 John chapter one, verse four,
and these things write we unto you for this reason, that your
joy may be full. Tells us the reason that he's
writing it. John is writing to a specific, defined group of
people. It's obvious he holds them dear
in his heart because he constantly refers to them as the beloved
or as little children. He would have been an aged man
at this time, an old man. He'd been writing to those whom
he would have had a relationship with, obviously. We don't know
the exact length of time, but he loved them and he calls them
beloved of the Lord and of him. He calls them little children.
uh, of the Lord. And he viewed them, he would
have viewed them as a, as little children in the gospel. And therefore
he says, little children, nine times in this, uh, in this letter
calls them beloved five times in this letter. So we know who
he's writing to. He's writing to the elect of the Lord. I love
the fact that he doesn't say, uh, to those who are at a particular
place, uh, we can take this and we can apply this to us as well.
I love that it's written the word of God's written to his
people, wherever they are. Now, there can be no doubt to whom
he's writing to or the theme. There can be no doubt of the
message, what he's writing about, because he says Son, S-O-N, 20
times in these five chapters. And of those 20 times, 18 of
them are capitalized. It's a reference to Christ Jesus,
the son of God, talks about the father giving his son. And the
only two times that it doesn't have a capital S on it is in
chapter three, verse one and two, where you can look there
with me, where he says, behold, what manner of love the father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not.
Beloved now, are we the sons of God? See, there it is again,
beloved. So he's writing to a particular people, and he's calling us the
sons of God, but it's all by the son, because he makes this
very clear 18 times. It's the theme of John's letter.
God's people have been given all things by the Father in the
Lord Jesus Christ alone, in the Son. That's what this letter
is all about. It's to make our joy full. He
said, writing unto you, that your joy may be full because
of the finished work of Christ. There's the cause of it. Our
joy being full is only because of the Lord Jesus Christ being
our joy. We've been given all things by
the Father and the Son. That's our hope, our only hope
in peace, and that's what causes our joy to be full. Now, let's
read here in chapter three, our text found in verse 18. My little
children, my little children, let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that
we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him.
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart
and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn
us not, then have we confidence toward the Lord. The topic I
wanna look at tonight and what the Lord had given me as a message
is confidence towards God. Confidence towards God. Do I
have true confidence before God? There's only one way to have
true confidence before God. And I'm hoping by the time we
leave tonight, we'll have just that. The Lord will give us his
confidence towards him. Now, I looked up the definition
of confidence and I love how When the scripture gives a word,
it can have a totally different meaning than what Merriam-Webster
thought or whatever Google thought or whoever it was that's translating.
But when the Lord speaks, we can look at the original and
find out what the word means. The Webster Dictionary said confidence
is feeling of self-assurance arising from one's appreciation
of own abilities or qualities. I'm going to read that again. Feeling of self-assurance arising
from one's appreciation of own abilities or qualities. That's not confidence in God,
is it? Well, that's confidence in self, in one's own ability. So he can't be talking about
that kind of confidence right here. Having confidence towards
God, if it's in my own ability, that's not confidence towards
God, that's confidence in me. That's confidence in what I do
or what I don't do. So it can't be that definition. That's a confidence that's based
on emotion. One's appreciation of one's own ability, it says.
That's based upon emotion, isn't it? That's based upon confidence
in self. Well, he gives us an example
of one who had confidence in self, and it's found in this
same chapter. Look at verse 11. For this is the message that
ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother,
and wherefore slew he him. Question mark, because his own
works were evil and his brothers righteous. He was confident in
his works. He was confident in bringing
the fruit of his hand. You know the story that's given. He was confident in what he had
done and presented that unto God as his righteousness, as
hoping for favor towards God, to obligate God. He was confident
in his flesh. But that's not confidence towards
God, that's confidence in the flesh, confidence in self. Understand, if it's about a feeling,
feelings come and go, don't they? I mean, I can be happy one moment,
and the next moment I can be sad. Rejoicing in the finished
work of Christ one moment and be full of unbelief the next
because of the old man and the new man. You know what I'm talking
about. Feelings come and go. That's not our confidence. Feelings
is not our confidence. Faith has nothing to do with
how we feel. Nothing. Faith has nothing to
do with how you feel or how I feel. Nothing. Faith is not a feeling. It doesn't have anything to do
with what I do or I do not feel. Faith has nothing to do with
what I feel. Feelings do not equal confidence.
Positive circumstances do not equal confidence in the Lord.
Circumstances come and circumstances go. No, I need confidence towards
God. I need confidence towards God. God's people have but one confidence,
and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his finished work. It's
not confidence in ourself. It's not confidence in what we
present of ourself. It's not confidence of what we
do or do not do. It's not, we don't look to anything
as our confidence but the Lord Jesus Christ. And in looking
to him, that is our confidence toward God. That is our confidence
toward God. And it's all by his faith, we
just believe him. with me to Ephesians chapter
3, hold your place here. Paul says to the church of Ephesus
in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 8, "'Unto me who am less than
the least of all the saints.'" Well he didn't have much confidence
in himself did he? That's a good thing. That's a good thing. His
confidence was in something else, a person. And to me who am less
than the least of all the saints is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ.
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery,
which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who
created all things by Jesus Christ. It's the same thing John was
saying, isn't it? to the intent that now into the principality
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church,
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose, which
he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we have boldness
and access with, what's that word? Confidence. By the faith
of Him. What gives you confidence? Faith
in Christ. Where does that faith come from?
It comes from Him. It is the gift of God given to
His people that whereby we have confidence and the word here
is boldness. We have complete confidence in
him. We have boldness in him. Now boldness is not an arrogant
spirit. Boldness is not being haughty,
speaking condescendingly. No, no boldness is complete trust,
complete confidence, having complete assurance in what is being said
or what is being done. We have that in the Lord Jesus
Christ, don't we? We have boldness in his finished
work, complete confidence of what he's accomplished. Thereby
having access, access to what? Access to what? We have access
to grace, access to mercy, access to the very throne of God. How
can I have confidence to enter boldly unto the throne room of
God? My confidence can't be in myself.
It must be in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
If it's in myself, I have no confidence, not real confidence.
But if my confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ because of
the faith he's given, that's true confidence, isn't it? That's
confidence towards God. Our confidence is in the eternal,
unchangeable purpose of God. Isn't that what he said right
there? The eternal purpose that was given us in Christ before
time. He's the only thing that we can
have confidence in. The only thing that we can have
hope in. Otherwise we'd be of all men most miserable. By his blood we have access with
confidence. To all the grace will ever need
all the mercy. Will ever need we have real peace
with God. Real peace with God. We hear
those words and. They so quickly go in one ear,
not the other, don't they? I'm guilty of that myself, but
if I could enter into the thought of just having peace with God.
No more wrath. No more judgment. No more anger. God loves his people. He calls us little children here.
Now are we the sons of God, as we've already heard? We have
peace with God. There's our confidence. Why?
Because Christ Jesus purchased that peace by his own blood.
We believe that. I'm confident. Everything that
he set out to do, he did. It couldn't have been stopped.
You confident in that? Yes, absolutely. Confident that
he put away the sin of his people. There's no doubt in that. Faith
believes that. I'm confident in that. You're
confident in that. This is having confidence with God. It's the
only way we can. It's found in the person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. I can't have confidence in putting
away my sin. I can't have confidence in being
faithful to him. I can have confidence in his
faithfulness. I can't have confidence in me
trying to make peace with God. I can't make peace with God.
But I can have confidence with him purging my sins, purging
your sins. You can have confidence in that,
making peace with God by his own blood. I can have confidence
in that. Many men and women base their
what they call joy off of what they're confident in and joy
I wanna be clear on something. Happiness comes and happiness
goes, but joy is of the Lord. Joy is from the Lord. The Lord
wrote unto us that our joy may be full. Joy is something that's
given. It's one of the fruit of the Spirit. It comes through
and by the Lord. When the Lord gives joy, we have
joy unspeakable and full of glory. Isn't that what the scripture
says? That's our hope, is His joy. See, the reason that it
doesn't change is because our joy is a person. It's in the
finished work of Christ. If we're joyful, it's because
we're looking unto him, not ourselves or circumstances. Happiness may
come and go, but the believer's joy never changes. That joy is
found in Christ. That joy is found in our Lord
and Savior. And that's where our confidence
lies, is in the same thing. See, it's He's the only thing
we glory in, truly. He's the only thing His people
truly glory in. Paul said, glory in nothing,
save the cross. I have no reason to glory in
this flesh. I have no confidence in the flesh. Wasn't that the word he used?
Confidence, I have no confidence. How much is no? That's zero,
that's none. So where's our confidence then? If I have zero in the flesh,
it's gotta all be in Christ, isn't it? There's all of it,
right there, in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He done. We have
confidence in this life in him and hope in the life to come
because of his finished work on the cross of Calvary, because
he successfully redeemed his people. Can you say with all
certainty that you are completely confident that the Lord saved
his people from their sin? You have confidence with God
then. Who did the father trust? He trusted the Lord Jesus Christ
first, didn't he? Before you and I were even fashioned,
before the world was even created, the father trusted the son to
redeem. Father was confident in his son.
And you and I must have confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
must be our confidant. He must be. Notice what John says here again. Verse 20, for if our heart condemn
us, God is greater than our heart. Does that comfort you? When your
heart When your conscience, even when your flesh brings up the,
rears its ugly head up, and we are, what is the word he uses
here? Whenever we are condemned, remember
these words, God is greater than your heart. God is greater than
your heart. Remember these words, there is
now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Are you confident in that? Yes, yes, no condemnation. I'm confident there's no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. But my heart condemns me. God's
greater than your heart. But I have much sin where sin
doth abound. Grace did much more abound. But
all I see is the evil that I am and the wickedness that I am.
What does the Lord say? I've put away your sin. I've
put away your iniquity. He bore them on his own body
upon the tree. They're gone. God is greater. God is greater
than our heart. Have confidence before Him. How
do I have confidence before God? Look to Christ. Look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10.22 says, let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Full assurance
of faith. That sounds a lot like full confidence,
doesn't it? It is. It is. Full assurance of faith.
Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. Let us draw near. Let us draw
near unto God with a true heart and full assurance of faith.
Look nowhere else for full assurance. Look nowhere else for confidence.
You won't find any. You know as well as I do, every
time if you were to look in the mirror, so to speak, figuratively,
Can't be confident in self. Every time you look at yourself,
you, well, you physically look at yourself and you see flaws,
don't you? But how much more spiritual do we, we're completely
flawed, aren't we? Completely flawed spiritually,
not him. No, he's perfect. And he's good. And he bestowed
his righteousness upon his people by purchasing them with his own
blood on Calvary's tree. That's why he's our confidence.
He's all of my confidence. He's all of our confidence. We look nowhere else for full
assurance or for confidence before God, but the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We flee into the precious lamb.
We flee into the precious lamb with full confidence in him alone.
Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. It's what Paul was talking
about. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19 says,
having therefore brethren boldness, having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil. That is to say his flesh and
having an high priest over the house of God. Let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Here's the reason why. For he
is faithful that promised. Do you believe that he is faithful
that promised? That's my, are you confident
in that? Yes. Yes. We have boldness and complete
confidence and full assurance. Right here in this passage we
just read, we have those three things. Boldness, full assurance,
and complete confidence. And it only comes through and
by one way. The Lord giving faith that just looks to Christ. Christ
Jesus is our confidence. He is our full assurance. He
is the reason we have boldness. No other way will we believe
it is finished. Our heart would just condemn us. Our heart would
constantly, faith just believes that God is greater than our
heart. Faith just believes that we're sending up the bound grace
and much more about we're confident in that. That's our confidence.
Christ Jesus is our confidence with God. It's not because of
what we do, but because of what he'd done. It's what his blood
accomplished. He used that word in this passage,
consecration. Consecrated means to be made
holy. He's consecrated his people. Do you believe that this is a
question that can only be answered by God-given faith? Do you believe
that you're just as holy as God is right now? Think about that. That's what he requires. Well,
if you've been born again, that's exactly what he says. You've
been sanctified, you've been made holy, not in our flesh. But that new man, born in Christ
Jesus, with the nature of him, yes, yes, he's consecrated us
unto him. I'm confident that everything
he required, he provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm confident
that he has made his people one with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I'm confident that he sat down after his work was finished.
expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. How do we
know all this? Well, faith believes God. Believes
that God is faithful that promised all of it. That's what he promised.
Call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. God promised all these things and he cannot lie. We
have no confidence in ourself before God. We have complete
confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ towards God. See the difference? We have no confidence in self.
with God, we have complete confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ towards
God. We believe Him. Something that's
interesting, also convicting, is God's people worry. God's
people get anxious. God's people get fearful. God's
people fret. and we're tossed about with the
wind, and I like the way that that was worded, wind just blows
us everywhere, don't it? What is that wind? It's our unbelief.
That's convicting, isn't it? You know what he says? Well,
when your heart convicts you, God's greater than your heart.
God's greater than your heart. It's interesting that we are
ones that worry and get anxious often, but we're the only ones
that have a real reason to rest in this world. We're the only
ones, the Lord's people are the only ones that have a true reason
to rest. The only ones that have a true reason to be confident
in something. Where else are you going to be 100% confident?
I can buy a brand new car. I'm talking about physical and
spiritual things. You understand what I'm saying? This is just
a physical example of what I'm describing. I can buy a brand
new car. And I can say that I'm 100% confident
that that brand new car will get me from point A to point
B. But that's not 100% guaranteed, is it? No. No, it's not guaranteed. I can
go and deposit money into account and expect interest to grow on
it and have confidence that that's going to grow interest and accrue,
but don't know. Scripture says, marvel not what
shall be on the mar. Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
I can't be 100% sure of that. We can be 100% sure of this one
thing. He that begun a good work in
you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. We can be 100%
confident in this one thing. When he by himself purged our
sin, he sat down on the right hand of God. You can be 100%
confident in that. You can be 100% confident in
the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work for his people.
It's not at risk of changing. It's not at risk of being challenged
or altered. No, he by himself purged our
sin. They're gone. They're gone, and
now we have boldness to enter to the throne of grace, having
obtained mercy to find grace to help us in the time of need.
Just remember, brethren, if your heart condemns you for your unbelief,
remember John's words, God's greater than your heart. God's
greater than your heart. Aren't you glad he doesn't see
your unbelief? He sees the blood. And he said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass by you. Brethren, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be made
like him, for we shall see him as he is. Right now, you're the
son of God. That's what Christ Jesus did. Confidence towards God is free.
Free. Looking to Christ is free from
the burden of sin. That's the only place that we
can have our conscience clear, looking to Christ. That's the
only place our heart doesn't condemn us, is looking to Christ.
There's freedom in that, isn't there? There's liberty in that,
free from the law, free from sin. The consequence and the
penalty of sin, one day, One day we'll be free from the presence
of sin. We long for that day, don't we?
Confidence towards God means that we're fearless. When are
you fearless? When you're looking to Christ.
Our confidence. Isn't that true? When you're
looking to Christ, Jesus alone, you're fearless. You don't have
any fear of death. You don't have any fear of life. You don't
have any anxiety. You're looking to Christ and
you're resting in the same thing that the Father rested in. Confidence
towards God is having boldness. It's having certain assurance
of not just being granted permission to enter into the throne room
of God, but being called into the throne room of God with the
assurance that Christ accomplished the salvation of his people,
completely resting in that. What does the scripture say?
Come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden. Where are you
going to come to Christ at? The throne room of God. The throne room
of God we approach by the Lord Jesus Christ alone, by his blood
alone, we can enter to the holiest of holies. Not based upon our
performance, but based upon the performance of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Confident in the Lord in that. His performance was
perfect. We're confident in that. Every time we look at self, our
hearts are grieved. You know what I'm talking about,
the wishing you would not do the things that you do, wishing
you could live like you want to live. I mean, as silly as
that sounds, I wish I could live a sinless life. I do. I truly
do. I wish I could live looking unto
Christ 24-7, 365, never wavering, never worrying. Now, if it comes
to, we know that the confession always goes forth the same from
the new man that says Christ is all and Christ finished the
work, but I'm talking about Just ridding this old man. We're just carrying an old dead
corpse on our back, aren't we? If we could get rid of that,
we could live exactly like we want to. One day we will. One
day we will. Every time we look at ourselves,
our hearts are grieved because of the sin that we are. Our hearts
condemn us, find fault and find blame. But did you know God finds
no fault with his people? The law has nothing to say against
the child of God. No fault against them. God does
not condemn his people. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. God is greater than our heart,
how soon we forget. Even though our own heart condemns
us, God's greater than our heart. John 14 says this, let not your
heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Our hearts are grieved. If our hearts are troubled, if
we're overwhelmed, we're like David. When my heart's overwhelmed
within me, lead me to the rock that's higher than I. Look to
Christ. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you feel condemned
or if you feel overwhelmed or if you feel uncertain, have certainty
in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have confidence
toward God. Every time we see his face, we
rest. Every time we look to self as
unbelief, We're like with the disciples, Lord, I believe, help
my unbelief. Every time we examine ourself, it's just unbelief.
We're looking for something that we can only find in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Every time we look inside of ourself, we're never
going to find what can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every time we look in the world that we live in, we're never
going to find what can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The peace of God can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Looking anywhere else but him is unbelief. Every time we see
his face, we rest. Our hearts just stop worrying.
We stop looking at anything else, don't we? We just start looking,
we're just resting. When we see him, he's all, we
have nothing else to look for. By his faith, we have complete
assurance and confidence towards God. Complete assurance and confidence
towards God. In closing, I wanna read our
text again. In 1 John 3, verse 18. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Hereby
we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before
him. For if our heart condemn us,
God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved,
if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward
God. If our heart condemn us not,
it's because It's because we have confidence towards God.
It's because we're not looking at our heart. We're looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we love in deed and in
truth as John is commanding us here by the Lord? By looking
unto Christ. By looking unto Christ. How do
we have confidence towards God? Looking unto Christ. He is our
confidence. He is our confidence. Looking
to him is the only way our heart will not condemn us. And looking
to Him is the only way God will not condemn us. If we are in
Christ Jesus, we are going to look to the Lord Jesus Christ
alone as all of our righteousness before Him. We'll look to Him
because we've been justified. We'll look to Him because we've
been saved from our sins. And in looking to Him, that means
we are not condemned. We are not condemned. We are
justified because He's made us do so. Do we see that? We just
look by the faith that He bestows. That faith gives us rest in Him
alone. We've been made to know. We've
been made to know Christ is the only one that pleases the father. He's the only one that we can
put our trust in. He's the only one where true
hope lies. He's the only one where we can
have confidence towards God thereby. If you believe that it's not
you and I that pleases God, but it has to be Him, if you're crying
out for Him alone, then you have confidence with God. You have
confidence with God. Confidence towards God. I can't
find it in myself. Can you? No, I can find it in
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm confident. Confident in what
He accomplished. Let's pray. Father calls us to
ever be more confident in you and less confident in ourself. In Christ's name.