Radio Sermon 88 <Back to Table of Contents>
How to Know -- For sure
Just a few years ago, the elephant jokes were making their rounds. Possibly some of you remember the one that went like this. How do you know when an elephant is in the shower stall with you? You can smell the peanuts on his breath. Now that bit of nonsense might help us focus on some very instructive corollaries. How does anyone know for sure what the truth really is? And once one knows what the truth is, how does one know for sure that they are really living in harmony with it? These are questions addressed in John's wonderful letters. Today as we continue our study of them, we will see what John says. Please stay with us.
I am reading I John 3:16-24. "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 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. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us."
The principal cause of doubt is human fallibility. Because we all recognize our own limitations, uncertainty often mounts when we encounter things we have not experienced or of which we do not have certain knowledge. This is just as natural as any other purely human trait. The reason the elephant joke might cause us to smile is that it overlooks the obvious. An elephant in the shower stall with you cannot be ignored, even without peanut breath. We can surely know what truth is. We equally can know whether we are "in truth" or not. The litmus tests are provided by inspiration. John specifically affirms how we may have the assurance that we know truth, are in truth, and that truth is in us.
Problems have risen over this very point. Many religious people whose religion goes no deeper than their family heritage believe assuredly that they know truth and are in truth. Often this is claimed by those who know little, if any, Bible truth. Others have either been misled or have deluded themselves into an erroneous concept of how the Holy Spirit of God operates. Because the text says that we may know that He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given us, those who have experienced what they are convinced is some direct contact they have had with the Holy Spirit, are convinced they need neither Bible nor truth. The feelings they have convince them they are right with God. In kindness toward all and malice toward none, dear friend -- that is precisely what John denies in the passage before us.
The passage affirms that we may know what love is. It is not revealed in an itemized list of definitive terms. We know love from Jesus, not by what He said, but by what He did. He laid down His life for us. Our love both to Him and to our fellow man is responsive. We are not to say how much we love Him, or how much we love others; we are to demonstrate it in deed and truth, not in mere vocal profession. John W. Wade wrote: "By going to the cross, Jesus laid down His life that we might have the possibility of receiving eternal life. Jesus expressed this idea when He described Himself as the good shepherd who was willing to lay down His life for the sheep (John 10:15-18). Jesus' death stands as an example for all who would follow Him. The ultimate test of one's love is whether he is willing to die for brethren. Not many will be called upon to make this kind of a sacrifice, but the example stands to remind us of just how demanding agape love can be." (Standard Lesson Commentary, 1989-1990, page 308).
The love we show in deed and truth, rather than sentimentality and talk, is love in action. There is an old adage, "Actions speak louder than words." John makes this very point in this place. If love is real it will always be seen before it is heard. It may never be heard but it cannot remain invisible. It must act and it must be positive. The kind of love Jesus made known to mankind was positive and active. So must our love for Him and others be.
One of the ugliest pages of history has to do with Christians. Many of those who have followed Christ have been called on to give their very lives as martyrs to His cause. That would be the supreme test of love and faith. One who willingly dies rather than lose the love of God, or reject faith in His Son, does so through unquestioned love that passes the supreme test. But most of those who follow Christ never are called into such a testing ground. However there is a less heroic test that is just as important. There is a way to show love for others who are truly needy. Poverty was very common in the days of John. It is increasing even in our own wealthy country and in nations with less affluence than we have. While we have numerous benevolent agencies that try to alleviate hunger and poverty, the world of the first two centuries had practically none. Hunger and homelessness was to them so common that it would not take much effort to find those who were truly in need of daily sustenance.
So, John orders Christians not to shut up their hearts from those who were in need. The word "heart" in the New King James Bible is translated "bowels" in the King James Version. It is a word that refers to the inner part of the body, the viscera. Surely all of us have experienced a sort of funny feeling in the stomach that could only have been caused by something emotional. Do you remember your first sweetheart, the first "crush" you had on someone? Remember that little feeling you got in the pit of your abdomen at just the sight of that person? Remember the feeling you had when you saw your first born child for the very first time? That little sensation you had in your stomach was not caused by hunger, but emotion. The ancients who knew this common human experience concluded that human emotions were shut up in the human body. At times when emotional experiences resulted in those "funny feelings" they considered it as emotions trying to get out. Thus, the word "bowels," means "the inmost part of something" and the word is usually plural. Shutting up his inward most being to one in need is said equally as well by saying one "closes his heart" to those who are in need. Both of these expressions are figurative.
Verse 19 begins by using the word "Hereby." "Hereby" is a preposition translated from the Greek "en." It means position in place, time or state, and by implication instrumentality, medially or constructively." (Strong's Lexicon-Concordance). It refers to what has just been said. By what we do, by the things we demonstrate in action, we show the sincerity of our faith in Christ and our love for our fellow man. Our love for God is also verified by the love we have for others. The issue is clear. Truth is the sum total of God, His word, and the gift of Christ.
God is certainly absolutely truth. Paul wrote, "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness" (Titus 1:1). He regarded the divine revelation of God as truth. To Timothy he penned these words. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Timothy 2:15). And we have assurance that we are both in truth and of truth by abiding within that truth. In the next chapter of this letter, John wrote: "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error" (I John 4:6). Before you conclude that this Spirit of truth is unconditionally given as the safeguard against error, think a moment. How is it that the Spirit of truth identifies error? The only answer -- through divinely revealed truth, the Bible.
John says that by this we will assure our hearts. The word for "assure" is from the Greek word, peitho. It is a primary verb meaning "to convince, by argument, true or false; by analogy, to pacify or conciliate by other fair means." Reflexively or passively, it means "to assent to evidence or authority, to rely by inward certainty: -agree, assure, believe, have confidence," and also can mean "to persuade, trust, yield." (Strong's) God's exceedingly great and precious promises are so sure that there is nothing more reassuring than basking in the radiance of them. What power there is in His promise! Those who obey Him, who live to please Him, who manifest that by act rather than word, are those who need no outside monitor on their condition. They alone, of all who profess to follow the Lord, have the assurance that lasts -- it is based not on feelings or fantasies. It is based on divine revelation from God. When Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32) He set before man a pure standard of right faith, fact, and conduct. The question we all should be asking of ourselves is, "Am I really in the truth?" There is only one way to check that out. Read the word of God, measure yourself by it, and make a personal examination of your faith. Paul wrote, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified" (II Corinthians 13:5).
If such an examination reveals defects, and our hearts condemn us, that is a good sign. It is a sign that the conscience is still pliable. It is still the way God monitors our self judgment. But John says that if our heart (conscience) does condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Don't be hasty in concluding that even if one finds defects in one's life and character that there is nothing to worry about; God will clear all that up for us, consider the following. Does John mean to say that God is greater than our conscience in the sense that even if we are wrong, God will declare us right? Or does he say that when we find defects in our lives, we should correct them, for God is even greater than our own conscience and has condemned us even before we found our failings? When a guilty conscience is activated John gives an argument from the less to the greater; if our own consciences condemn us, how much more would God condemn us?
Deep in our hearts, we often realize that we have failed. We see things we wish we had not done and things we wish we had not left undone. That is only true of those whose conscience still has active life in it, whose conscience has not become insensitive to personal conditions. Our hearts can never be the final judge of whether we are right or wrong before God. God knows everything about each one of us. He knows each of us better than we could ever know ourselves. He knows the sincerity of our hearts. He knows the intentions we have. If we are right, He gives us assurance through His word. If we are wrong, He gives us condemnation and the way to avoid it -- through His word.
One reason why we of the churches of Christ stress the written Word so much is because it is the only infallible guide that exists. Your pastor, your parents, your church covenant, your church discipline, your personal experiences, your feelings, your emotions, all compete with the word of God as your guide. If you would have the true assurance of being in truth, please -- please consider what has been said. Don't take what this preacher or that preacher says. Take only what you can read in language plain enough for you to understand and act on that. That is true faith in Christ, love for God, and assurance for yourself.
But, time is gone for today. If you have a question about this, or would like to have a copy of this lesson, contact us.