Rev. David Holwick C
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 19, 2003
1 John 3:19-23
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I. My focus on hearts.
A. Buy stethoscope for Celeste.
1) Top of the line - Littmann Classic #2. $89.00
a) I ask Rebecca to put it on her heart - no sound at all.
b) (Stethoscope is plugged into my ears wrong.)
2) It is important to have a beating heart.
a) It beats around once a second, as long as you live.
B. Celeste's dad's heart attack.
1) Catheterization reveals damage. Too much for balloon.
2) Quadruple bypass surgery.
a) Lots of dangers but seems to be successful.
C. Bible's view of hearts.
1) It is the seat of the intellect, the will, the conscience
and feelings (though these are usually centered in the
lower organs).
2) They took everything we associate with the brain and
dropped it down one level. IBD 2:625
II. When your heart condemns. 3:20
A. Hearts can burn.
1) We know it is only a muscle, but everyone has experienced
a sensation there when we are in turmoil.
2) Losing a loved one in death, ending a relationship,
or even the guilt of sin can make your heart hurt.
B. Deserved guilt.
1) Guilt is good when it is based upon truth.
a) Our conscience is God's reminder about his morality.
2) The purpose of guilt is to motivate you to change.
Rhonda Dippon didn't believe that God could ever forgive her.
After all, she reasoned, she had years of sins that needed
forgiving.
Maybe if she tried hard enough to be a good person, perhaps then
God might forgive her.
Meanwhile, she was miserable in all her trying.
Rhonda grew up in an unchurched family.
As a child, she attended two or three vacation Bible schools and
went to church occasionally with a friend.
It was her husband, Darrell, who introduced her to faith in
Jesus Christ.
While we were dating, he decided that if their relationship was
to go any further, he needed to find out where she stood with
the Lord.
At that time, God was not part of her life, but she was extremely
open.
Her sporadic church attendance had left her with many questions
and no answers.
Even after six years of regular church attendance, she was still
very confused about how one receives salvation.
If she had been asked whether she was forgiven for her sins, she
would have been near tears when she answered, "I hope so."
Constantly she came before Jesus on her knees asking forgiveness
for her sins.
Just as often she walked away without feeling forgiven.
Then one weekend our church was holding a workshop on
evangelism, and Darrell asked her if she wanted to attend.
She didn't.
The thought of telling other people about a Jesus she felt she
barely knew herself was terrifying.
Darrell talked her into going, however, because it was a no-
pressure workshop.
She could learn about evangelism, but wouldn't be forced to go
out and actually do it.
On the first day, the leader portrayed a regular person - a
sinner - as he went through life.
Every day he sinned, and each sin was added to the pack he
carried on his back.
He became increasingly bent over from their weight.
After awhile, his sins so weighed him down that he was
crawling.
The leader explained, "This is man's condition without Jesus
Christ; his sins kept piling up on him.
Because Jesus died to take away our sins, we don't have to be
weighed down by sin like the man I portrayed."
He crawled over to the cross in the room, took the pack off
his back, and laid it at the foot of the cross.
As he did so, he recited the Bible's words of assurance:
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9).
Then he stood up, turned, and walked away a free man.
It was all Rhonda could do to keep from crying; he had portrayed
her!
Every time she asked for forgiveness and laid her sins before
Jesus, she didn't feel forgiven because she would pick up
her pack again and try to walk away from the cross.
That night, in the privacy of her bedroom, she asked Jesus to
forgive all her sins and thanked Him for forgiving her.
Now she knew she was forgiven because she was no longer trying to
do it on her own.
She was unburdened from her sin. #4529
C. Undeserved guilt.
1) Once we are saved, we can forget we are forgiven.
a) Or, we don't think we should be.
b) Punishing ourselves may seem more realistic than asking
God to clean our slate one more time.
2) This is bad theology.
a) John only brings it up so he can give us the solution.
III. God is greater than your heart.
A. Difficult grammar in Greek.
1) I will spare you the details.
B. Where our assurance of salvation comes from.
1) It is not dependent on our own perception of ourselves.
2) It is dependent on God's decision, his choosing of us.
a) Our feelings are subjective, his choice is objective.
b) John shifts the ground of our assurance away from
ourselves and bases it on God's faithfulness.
c) God knows us better than we know ourselves.
1> He also knows what he can mold us to be.
IV. A confident heart. 3:21
A. Two results:
1) Assurance with God.
a) In verse 19 he calls this a heart at rest.
2) Answered prayer. 3:22
a) Jesus taught the same principle.
b) A confident faith unleashes God's power in your life.
B. Two stipulations:
1) Obey his commands.
a) Actions and truth count for more than intentions. 3:18
b) Word "this" in verse 19 points to previous verses.
1> Notice practical application (charity) in 3:17.
2> If a sense of guilt is overwhelming you, get
involved in a practical ministry.
2) Do what pleases God.
a) It has a positive thrust to it.
V. God's command to our heart. 3:23
A. Believe in Jesus.
B. Love one another.
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
#4529 "At The Foot Of The Cross," by Rhonda Dippon, in Moody Magazine's
"First Person," http://www.moody.edu/moodymag/1stpers.htm
This and 23,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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