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1 John 3:18-24
Stephen Caswell © 2001
Obedience, Results
A little boy was riding his tricycle furiously around the block, over and over again.
Finally a policeman stopped him and asked why he was going around and around.
The boy said that he was running away from home.
Then the policeman asked why he kept going around the block.
The boy responded, because mom said that I'm not allowed to cross the street.
*The point of all this is clear, obedience will keep us close to those we love, especially God! *
Last Sunday morning we saw how John emphasized the importance of love.
Love is the only acceptable response we can share with our brother.
Murder, hatred and indifference belong to the devil and his children, not God's children.
John says that love requires deeds, not words.
The Good Samaritan expressed love for his neighbor through his loving deeds.
John summarizes his message on love in *1 John 3:18: */My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
*But,* *does it not cost a great deal for the believer to exercise this kind of love?
*/Yes, it does.
It cost Jesus Christ His life.
But the wonderful benefits that come to you as by products of this love more than compensate for any sacrifice you make.
In today's passage, John talks about three wonderful benefits that God gives to believers who love their brethren.
They are */Assurance,/*/ *Answered Prayer, */and */Abiding Life./*
/Firstly / Assurance
/a.
A Confident Heart/
*3:19:* /And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him./
/How can a believer have an assurance that they are living in the truth?/
*When we love our brother in deed and in truth.*
Our relationship with our brother cannot be separated from our relationship with God.
When we love our brother through good deeds we are really doing it for God.
Jesus said /when you did it to the least of these My brethren you did it unto Me./
A man who is not right with his brother should go settle the matter before he offers his sacrifice on the altar.
A Christian who practices love grows in his understanding of God’s truth and enjoys a heart filled with confidence before God.
God blesses His children when they practice love by filling their hearts with assurance.
They sense God's peace and love in their own lives.
Conversely if we don't love our brother God withholds His assurance from us.
Flying A Kite
A boy was out flying his kite one day in an open field.
The kite soared so high that it disappeared into the clouds.
A man walking passed asked the boy why he was holding on to a piece of string.
The boy answered him by saying, I've got a kite up there.
The man looked up and said, I don't see it.
The boy replied, well I know it's there because I can feel it tugging.
This is what it is like for a believer who loves his brother.
God assures his heart that everything is fine.
This is because the tie of love between heaven and earth is strong.
/b.
A Condemning Heart/
*1 John 3:20:*/ For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things./
A condemning heart is one that robs a believer of peace.
When we don't love our brother we experience this.
An accusing conscience is another way to describe it.
Sometimes the heart accuses us wrongly, because it is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
The answer to that question is, /God/ knows the heart!
More than one Christian has accused himself falsely, or been harder on himself than necessary; but God will never make such a mistake.
A Christian who walks in love has a heart open to God and knows that God never judges wrongly.
A Conscience That Won't Stretch
Adam Clarke was an assistant in a dry goods store, selling silks and satins to a cultured clientele.
One day his employer suggested to him that he try stretching the silk as he measured it out; this would increase sales and profits and also increase Adam's value to the company.
Young Adam straightened up from his work, faced his boss courageously, and said.
Sir your silk may stretch, but my conscience won't.
Adam listened to his conscience and God approved of his decision.
A strong Christian listens when his conscience advises him and doesn't talk back to it.
/Do you listen to your conscience when making decisions?
Or do you ignore it when God challenges you to love your brother?/ /Is God prompting it now?/
Peter's Conscience
Peter felt both condemnation and confidence in his heart.
/Firstly,/ Peter wept bitterly after he had denied his Lord, and no doubt he was filled with remorse and repentance for his sin.
/Then, /Jesus knew that Peter had repented, and after His resurrection the Lord sent a special message to Peter that must have assured the hot headed fisherman that he was forgiven.
Peter’s heart may have condemned him, for he knew he had denied the Lord three times, but God was greater than his heart.
Jesus, knowing all things, gave just the assurance he needed.
Application
The first benefit God wants to give to His children is assurance./
What will assure our hearts before the Lord?/
In a word,*/ love./*
When we love our brother in deed and in truth we can have great confidence before God.
/What causes our heart to condemn us?/ Disobedience to God's commandment to love our brother.
We can't expect to have God's peace in our hearts when we don't love our brother through good deeds.
To know we are practicing the truth we must love one another.
/How are you loving your brother?
How are you meeting his needs?/
With words or deeds.
Remember, we can't hide our disobedience because God knows all things.
/Secondly/ Answered Prayer
*1 John 3:21-22:* /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./
Love for the brethren produces confidence toward God, and confidence toward God gives you boldness in asking for what you need.
This does not mean that you /earn/ answers to prayer by loving the brethren.
Rather, it means that your love for the brethren proves that you are living in the will of God where God can answer your prayer.
John says to pray according to God's will.*
*
* *
*1 John 5:14-15: */Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him./
/ /
A believer’s relationship to the brethren cannot be divorced from his prayer life.
If we are serving the Lord through love then we will ask for the needs of others and not just our own.
Consequently when we don't love our brother we pray selfishly and God can't answer our prayers.
*James 4:2-3 *warns us about praying selfishly out of God's will: /You lust and do not have.
You murder and covet and cannot obtain.
You fight and war.
Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures./
If husbands and wives aren't obeying God's Word, their prayers are hindered*.*
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