CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S PRESENCE
1 John 3:19-24
Why do so many people struggle with the issue of the certainty of our salvation?
Does God intend for His children to spend so much time wondering if we’re really members of His family?
Why does Satan find it so easy to send us on a guilt trip about our relationship with God?
John gives us insight into the answer to questions like these as he continues the discussion concerning the relationship between love for one another and enjoying fellowship with God.
GOD’S HOLINESS 1:5-3:10
God is holy. 1:5
To enjoy fellowship with a holy God, we must be holy! 1:6-3:10
GOD’S LOVE 3:11-5:10
God is love.
To enjoy fellowship with a God whose essential nature is love,
we must love one another.
SUMMARY 3:10-11 [ Transition and summary ]
People who are characterized by a lifestyle of not loving their brother, haven’t come from God.
Because, . . .
“This is the message we have heard from the beginning:
‘We ought to love one another.’”
CONTRAST BETWEEN THE WORLD AND GOD’S CHILDREN 3:12-4:6
HATRED BY THE WORLD 3:12-13
It shouldn’t surprise us that the world doesn’t love God’s children.
They oppose God; they will oppose God’s children too!
Cain’s example 12
Cain was from the evil one.
Therefore, he did evil deeds.
That’s why he killed his brother.
You expect the children of the evil one to hate God’s children.
The world’s hatred 13
That shouldn’t surprise us!
The world hates God’s children.
The problem comes when those who call themselves God’s children hate His children.
That ought to cause doubt as to whether they really belong to God’s family.
LOVE AMONG BRETHREN 3:14-24
Members of the same family ought to love one another.
We’re all part of God’s family.
Therefore, we ought to love one another.
Evidence of our salvation 14-15
One of the clearest evidences that we walk with God is love for God’s children
When we love our brothers, we know it’s because we’ve been transformed.
Our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ demonstrates that we have already passed from death to life–that’s the evidence.
It gives us assurance.
People characterized by a lifestyle of NOT loving
= people who abide in drath.
They draw their sustenance from the realm of death.
They’re still living in that realm.
They haven’t been changed!
People characterized by a lifestyle of hating their brother or sister in Christ, . . .
= murderers = people who don’t have eternal life abiding in them.
The new life isn’t residing inside them.
They’re not getting their life from the source of eternal life!
Being a murderer and having eternal life are contradictory to each other.
Example of Jesus 16
This is how we know what real love is like!
Jesus gave His life for us.
Therefore, we ought to give our life for our brother.
If He was willing to do that for us, how much more should we?
If Christ loved us and demonstrated it by his death,
We, too, ought to love one another and demonstrate it by our actions.
Demonstration by deeds 17-18
You can’t have God’s love abiding in you
and refuse to care about a brother in need at the same time!
If we want to enjoy fellowship with the God Who is love,
we ought to love each other
and demonstrate it by our actions.
Not just say “We love you!”
Results of the demonstration of love 19-24
Here’s how we know we have the real thing.
Showing love leads to three results:
The results of such demonstrations of love include:
1. Certainty of salvation 19-21
When we act in love towards our brothers and sisters in Christ,
it results in confidence before God.
When our heart doesn’t condemn us,
then we have confidence before God.
Even when our heart DOES condemn us, . . .
When we’re struggling, . . .
Perhaps we haven’t done as much as we could have, . . .
When Satan sends us on a guilt trip about how little we’ve done, . . . etc.
God is greater than our heart.
He knows all about us.
He knows the truth. –We can rest in that fact!
He understands our motives and intentions, our failures.
He can still give us confidence.
Doubts about the certainty of our salvation don’t affect the REALITY of our salvation!
Those who trust Christ ARE secure, whether we FEEL like it or not!
When we aren’t ACTING like family, we’re not always SURE we’re really part of the family.
But that will never cause us to LOSE our salvation, if we’re truly TRUSTING Christ.
The issue is what we’re trusting in
–ourselves and our accomplishments,
or Christ and what HE has done!
2. Effective prayer 22-23 (21-23)
v. 21When our heart doesn’t condemn us, . . .
When we obey His commands by loving one another,
i.e., when we do what we know pleases Him => love one another,
it gives assurance that He will give us what we ask.
(Otherwise we doubt that God would do what WE want!)
This assurance is related to our priorities: we’re committed to obeying and pleasing Him FIRST!
When our priority is to please Him, our requests focus on pleasing Him–WE WANT WHAT HE WANTS!
That gives us confidence that He will give us what we ask!
When my priority is MY will, I’m not so sure.
When my priority is God’s will, I have confidence He will do it!
It’s all about HIM!
Also, our love for one another affects the kinds of things we ask for!
We’re not just concerned about our own interests;
our prayers become focused on the welfare of others.
When we’re more concerned about our brother, than about ourselves,
it affects our confidence that God will pay attention to our requests!
He concludes with a reminder of what He has commanded.
As we obey His command, we gain assurance.
There are TWO parts to the command:
It begins with trusting Him! –that must come first.
You will never love your brother as you should
if you’re not trusting Him!
If we truly trust Him, that leads to the second part,
We’ll love one another–we’ll love the members of the family!
3. Fellowship with God 24
When we obey His commands by loving one another,
we know that we’re abiding in Him and He in us.
That’s what fellowship is all about!
We’re abiding in Him–drawing from Him all we need to sustain our life--and He’s abiding in us, supplying all we need.
The Holy Spirit He has given us re-enforces that confidence.
His Spirit interacts with ours and gives us confidence (Rom. 8:15-16)
“You received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
We don’t have that same sense of sonship when we’re fighting with His children. You wonder if you’re really part of the same family!
When we obey His commands by loving one another,
we know that we’re abiding in Him and He in us.
HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?
If we want to enjoy fellowship with God, we must love one another,
and seek opportunities to demonstrate that love by our actions.
We need to keep in mind that love is the fruit of the Spirit.
Only He can create genuine love for one another
–the love that seeks my brother’s welfare, instead of my rights–
He produces that in us.
This doesn’t come naturally.
He’s the source of genuine, God-pleasing , love for one another.
We submit our desires to Him and allow HIM to control our life.
When we submit to His control, He produces love in us.
That love for others results in:
* Certainty of our salvation
* Effective prayer
* Fellowship with God
So we’re back where we started.
It we want to enjoy fellowship with the Father–the God of love–
we must be controlled by His Spirit.
His control will produce love for His children.
That love for the family will give us assurance
that we belong to the family
and that we’re in fellowship with Him!