The principles of all genuine fellowship with God

The principles of all genuine fellowship with God

1 John 3:19-22 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 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

In the last part of this study we saw that Jesus Himself is the perfect expression and example of what true love is and how those of us who are saved are to follow His example by showing that kind of love toward our brothers and sisters in Christ. We also discussed the fact that it isn’t our deeds that save us but rather our deeds prove we are saved because they are born out of our love for Jesus. Another example of what John was saying Is found in James:

James 2:15-17 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

In other words, no one who is really saved could continually see a brother or sister in Christ who was in great need and not do whatever they could to help them.

John also shows us that he realizes that none of us are perfect and that we all slip up and sin. We see that he even includes himself in this because he uses the term “we” instead of saying “you”.

We can know for sure that we belong to the truth means simply (and amazingly) that we can be sure that we are saved forever. He begins the sentence with “This then is how we know”. The words “this then” are referring to what he has been saying to us throughout this entire letter and really ties this all together nicely:

1 John 1:5-10 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1 John 2:1-6 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

1 John 3:11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

1 John 3:18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

John is saying then that this love we have for each other is one way we can know that we are truly saved. John knows however that there will be times when we won’t show this kind of love. He knows that we do still sometimes sin and includes himself in that. He has been telling us all along that our relationship with other believers affects our relationship with the Lord. With that in mind he says that when our hearts condemn us, when our conscience isn’t clear, we can trust the fact that we can go boldly into His presence and confess our sin and be totally forgiven for them. Even though our hearts may continue to beat us up over our sin, we can know for sure that the Lord has forgiven us because we are not supposed to be relying on our own character but rather on the character of the Lord who is greater then our hearts.

When we walk in love with each other, we grow in our understanding of God as well because we are abiding in Him when we do this; therefore we are experiencing His heart more and more. Because we are walking that closely with Him and each other, we will experience confidence in His presence. When we slip and our hearts begin to condemn us, we need to confess and get back into a right relationship with the Lord and each other so that our growth isn’t stunted.

Sometimes however our hearts accuse us wrongly. This is yet another reason why we need to remember that God knows everything, always. He knows the Truth, even when we don’t. Therefore we can go to Him, confess and know for certain that everything is OK between us. We don’t have to listen to our hearts then because once we have confessed if we feel it’s necessary, we know that the Lord has already taken care of it because God never makes a mistake and will never judge us wrongly.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Remember when John denied the Lord three times just before our Lord’s death on the cross? I’m sure that from the moment that rooster crowed the third time that John was miserable and that his heart condemned him. He knew what he had done and he knew it was a sin. I’d ask if you can imagine how he felt, but I’m sure you can just as I can. It’s a horrible horrible feeling when you know you have let your Lord and Savior down. I don’t think there is any worse feeling then that, and our hearts often grab onto that and beat us up with it over and over again even after we have confessed.

Luke 22:61-62 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Like us, John most likely lived with that awful condemnation from his heart until Jesus Himself relieved him of it after His resurrection. The point is that he didn’t need to live with that because his heart was falsely condemning him. John had already repented of his sin. We know this because the verse above says “he went outside and wept bitterly”. If that isn’t an example of godly sorrow which leads to repentance, then I don’t know what is! God knew that John had repented the very second he did so; in fact God knew he would repent before he had even sinned! So there was no reason for John’s heart to condemn him any longer, his heart, just like ours, was deceitful. This is why we should place our confidence in God and not in ourselves.

Finally John tells us that when we are living in right relationship with the Lord and with each other then we will also be praying according to His Will and not our own. Therefore He will give us anything we ask. What a wonderful promise to spur us onward toward always living (abiding) in a close personal relationship with the Lord!

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