The Plowman

Quieting the Condemning Heart [ 35:18 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (45)

Quieting the Condemning Heart: 1 John #09

An exposition of 1 John 3:19-24. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, December 6, 2015.

Intro:

I don’t care for uncertainty.  I’m the type of person who wants to know what’s going on.  I want to know where things stand.  I don’t like unanswered questions.  And I tend to be pessimistic.  So when I’m told where things stand – I tend to think, “You’re just trying to make me feel better.”  “Things must be bad if you’re telling me that.”  I have another tendency – that is to be very self-critical.  I tend to think the worst of me.  All of this combines to mean that I often fight spiritual battles.  I struggle with where I am spiritually and my lack of godliness.  If you’ve read much by the Puritans then you know the Puritan mindset was very introspective.  They constantly questioned and examined their spiritual lives.  That’s why I have to read the Puritans in small bits here and there – if not – I’d go into a deep depression!  Do you ever struggle with your spiritual life?  Do you struggle with issues of assurance?  Do you sometimes find yourself saying, “If I was really a Christian I would not think that or say that?”  Do you ever “beat yourself up” over your lack of spiritual progress or godliness?

The issue of assurance is a major cause of anxiety in the lives of believers.  We have this false notion that true believers never struggle.  Genuine saints never waver.  But that simply is not true.  Do you remember John the Baptist?  Jesus said there was no one, born of woman, who was any greater than John – yet he struggled.  John who boldly announced the kingdom of God was at hand.  John who upon seeing Jesus at the Jordan River declare, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!”  John at one point instructed his disciples to go to Jesus and ask, “Are you the one or are we to look for another?”

The theme of 1 John is assurance.  John, with a pastor’s heart, was writing to a dearly loved congregation seeking to encourage and strengthen them in the face of doubt and confusion.  Some false teachers had come with a new teaching.  They spoke of a special knowledge, a higher insight gained through spiritual means – the result was doubt and confusion on the part of genuine believers.  Thus John said, “I writing that you may know that you have eternal life (5:13).”  John’s purpose was to buttress their sagging faith.  “I want you to know that you know.  I want your joy to be complete.  I want you to press on in the faith assured that you are ‘of the truth.’”

John understood that in spite of all he had said about assurance up to this point – there will still be some who feel condemned in their own eyes and who are therefore depressed by their lack assurance.  And lack of assurance can cripple the spiritual life.  There are a number of folks who feel assured when they have no right, biblically, to feel assured!  There are times when lack of assurance is the gracious working of God.  Some lack assurance for good reason.  But the emphasis in our text this morning is self-condemnation.

Text: 1 John 3:19-24

How is the believer to deal with doubt?  How do we overcome this spiritual depression?  John’s answer seems clear in our text.  Regardless of the cause there is only one answer.  The believer must take himself in hand and confront himself with what he knows to be true concerning God and God’s work in his life.  The answer is knowledge.  But not the mystical, superstitious knowledge of the false teachers, rather the knowledge of God’s Word and work.

As we work our way through this brief paragraph we learn that:

Thesis: The doubting heart finds peace in the knowledge of God’s gracious working in the life of the believer.

James Boice points out an interesting fact in his commentary on this section.  Boice says John didn’t tell them to “pray about it” he said, “take yourself in hand and think!”  Assurance is not a matter of feeling.  It is not about a warm glow or a sense of the spiritual – it is a matter of what has been done and what has God declared?

There are three things I want us to note in this passage.

1. A condemning heart is no match for the grace of God.  (3:19-20)
2. A settled heart knows abundant blessing.  (3:21-23)
3. A secure heart knows the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  (3:24)

Conclusion:
If we are to assure our hearts when they accuse and condemn us, we must look for evidence of the Spirit’s working, and particularly whether he is enabling us to believe Christ, to obey God’s commandments and to love the brethren.

The doubting heart finds peace in the knowledge of God’s gracious working.

Distinctly Different [ 36:39 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (48)

Distinctly Different: Study of 1 John #08

This is an exposition of 1 John 3:11-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, November 29, 2015.

Intro:

I remember as a kid going to the old Tulsa Oilers hockey games.  I remember coming through the doors of the Assembly Center and hearing that man’s voice ring out, “Program get your lucky number program!  You can’t tell the players without a program.  Get your programs.”  All those guys down there on the ice were wearing the same uniform – you needed something to distinguish the players.  Something that would help you know who was who.  It may be time to start selling “lucky number programs!”  According to a Barna Research Study – you’re going to need something to help you distinguish between believer and non-believer.

10 years ago Barna surveyed of 1024 adults concerning 7 subjects asking if the behavior was morally acceptable.  The results are, to say the least, surprising.  Cohabitating – living with someone to whom you are not married – 60% of all adults said that was morally acceptable.  49% of those claiming to be “born again” saw no problem with it.  When asked about engaging in sexual fantasies 59% of all adults found it acceptable – and 49% of the born again crowd.  Abortion – 45% and 33%.  Pornography was acceptable to 33% of all adults while only 28% of born again folks thought it was okay.  The use of profanity was acceptable to 36% of the general population and 29% of the born again.  Getting drunk?  35% and 24%.  Having sexual relations with a person of the same gender – 30% of the adult population and 20% of the born again folks.  What would have been unthinkable just a few years ago – is commonplace now.  Light and darkness have merged to form dusk while black and white have become gray!

This kind of thing would be unthinkable to the biblical writers.  The people of God have been called to live holy lives; lives that are distinct from the culture around them.  Dietary laws and laws about fabric and the Sabbath were intended to show that the Old Testament saints were a peculiar people.  They were different.  They saw life differently.  They lived differently.  In the New Testament, Jesus said his followers were to be salt and light.  The church is to function as a preservative, slowing the rate of decay in society; and a lamp, lighting the way to a better world.  Repeatedly the people are God are called to “come out from among them and be separate.”  Not separate in a “holier than thou” manner but in that we are to live according to a higher standard; a different moral code.  Perhaps nowhere is this distinction any clear than in the writings of John.

We return this morning to our survey of the letter known as 1 John.  This morning we will consider the application of the social test found in 1 John 1 John 3 beginning at 1 John 3:11.

Text: 1 John 3:11-18

Thesis: The life of a genuine child of God stands in stark contrast to the life of the unbeliever.

One thing is certain in 1 John – faith in Christ demands more than just doctrinal orthodoxy.  It is more than signing off on a set of propositional truths.  Genuine faith produces a certain lifestyle.  What you believe is lived out.  It is to be put into practice.  What you believe ought to make a real difference in how you live.

In 3:11 John states his point directly.  “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”  John is saying that the ethic of love is fundamental to the faith.  It is no accident that 3:11 is stated in the same fashion as 1:5.  As fundamental as purity and holiness undergirding the faith is the ethic of love driving all that we do.

Keep in mind – in John’s world there are two kinds of people – the people of God and the people of the world; children of light and children of darkness.  He opens with a description of the people of the world using Cain as the prototype.

1. The unbelieving worldview is dominated by self-interest and hostility.  (3:12-13)
2. The life transformed by the power of Christ presents a very different picture.  (3:14-18)

Conclusion:
We are called to be a peculiar people.  We are to be different.
Not “better” but different.
We are to see the world differently.
We are to respond to the hurting and the needy – differently.

May we so live that others see Jesus in us.  May our lives stand in stark contrast to the life of the unbeliever.

God forbid that folks would need a program to distinguish the players in this game!