[SPEAKER_00]: You are listening to audio from Citizens Church located in Plano, Texas for more information about this ministry or to give to this ministry Please visit citizenschurch.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: Turn with me to first John chapter 3
[SPEAKER_00]: And find verse 19, we're going to be in the passages that Ms. Kelsey just read for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: As you're turning there, if you're new to citizens, welcome.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Jamen.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm one of the pastors here, and we're honored that you are worshiping with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're here and you call citizens home, it is good to see you.
[SPEAKER_00]: a great high priest whose name is love who ever lives and pleats for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Graven on his hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name is written on his heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence to part.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there who made an end to all my sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free for God the justice satisfied to look on him and pardon me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Behold him there, the risen lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness.
[SPEAKER_00]: The great and changeable I am, the king of glory, and of grace, one with himself I cannot die.
[SPEAKER_00]: My soul is purchased by his blood.
[SPEAKER_00]: My life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my Savior and my God.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a poem I wrote.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just kidding, that's a him called before the throne of God above, and I grew up singing this song.
[SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in church, my dad's a pastor, and as a kid, the singing was my favorite part of church, which is ironic.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I would sing during the worship, and then I would sleep, or my dad was preaching.
[SPEAKER_00]: My mom wore these dresses that had these pads on the shoulders, and they're like little pillows.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect and we sing hymns in our church and growing up we we sing this song and I didn't love every hymn that we that we Saying but Of the ones that I love this one's like top of the list how great that art Rock of ages before the throne of God above.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love this song.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was originally a poem written in 1863 by a young Irish woman named charity, Lee's Smith
[SPEAKER_00]: And the original name of her poem was not before the throne of God above.
[SPEAKER_00]: The original name was within the veil with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: The veil is what separated people from the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you go past the veil all by yourself, then your sins can dim you and you die overwhelmed by the holiness of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: But all those who go within the veil with Jesus, they can stand with confidence in the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what she writes about.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, the just was satisfied to look on him and pardon me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Charles Spurgeon grabbed a hold of this poem and put it in his book of hymns, but he didn't call it before the throne of God above.
[SPEAKER_00]: He called it the Advocate because it's about Jesus' advocacy for us in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have no case to make on our own before God.
[SPEAKER_00]: None.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus, our advocate, he makes a strong and perfect plea.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Graven on his hands and written on his heart, and I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue, no other voice can bid me then to part.
[SPEAKER_00]: No voice can accuse me out of the presence of God, not while Jesus is speaking.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name is on his hands and on his heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: His plea over my life is strong.
[SPEAKER_00]: and it's perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then even this is so beautiful, even the voice of death is silenced in the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll celebrate that on Sunday.
[SPEAKER_00]: Behold him there, the risen lamb, one with himself, I cannot die.
[SPEAKER_00]: My soul is purchased by his blood, my life is hid with Christ on high.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will not Christian, you will not be buried forever in death because you are hidden forever with Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the point of this poem, the song,
[SPEAKER_00]: before the throne of God above, in the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right now, Christian, right now, you can stand with confidence because of Jesus, completely safe before God, nothing to fear before a Holy God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we're gonna sing this song after the sermon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can I ask you something?
[SPEAKER_00]: And think about this, please.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you sing it, will you believe it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, are you right now confident?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, at the thought of you in the very presence of God?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you confident in that moment?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the throne image is helpful.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it helps me to just imagine it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to go into the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's how I see it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to open this huge door to get there and you walk into the throne room of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how it works, but there's a big, regal royal chair that God sits on.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's angels and robes in the piercing light of God's glory.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's as a six type stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: They sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they sing so loud that it shakes the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the voice from the throne says to you, come here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you walk up, how do you feel?
[SPEAKER_00]: What comes to mind?
[SPEAKER_00]: You envision yourself standing before a holy God above.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what's that like?
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you feel about you in a moment like that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been around Christians my whole life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been a Christian for most of my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been in ministry for all of my adult life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And can I tell you, just my observation, what's wrong with most of us?
[SPEAKER_00]: Most of us have two major problems.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first is that we don't, as Christians, we don't have as much affection for Christ as we should.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we're too easily satisfied and things that are just not ultimately satisfying.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's why we quote, Seas Lewis so much around here, he said our desires are not too strong, they're too weak.
[SPEAKER_00]: We were made for the sea, but we settle for the mud.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our failures to obey more are really a failure to long for more.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's another sermon kind of.
[SPEAKER_00]: The other problem that we have, most Christians that I've been around in my life, we are not very confident in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we're not confident in what He's done for us, we're not confident in what He says about us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we could say it a few ways, but just to say it as simply as I can, we're not confident that we're actually Christians.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that it's grace and not works, but how we function, how we operate, is that it's actually a self-solvation project.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is not all on us, but it is a little bit on us.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like when you're teaching a kid how to write a bike with no training wheels, and to get them started, you give them a push because getting going is like the hardest part, but then after you give them that push, you let them go, or you run beside them for a bit, eventually though, if they're actually going to learn to write the bike, eventually it's up to them,
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think many of us operate that way with the gospel, that we think the gospel of Jesus is really just the push that we need to get going.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the hardest part, but after that, it's up to us to keep us on the bike.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we only know that we're actually Christians if we never hit the ground, which means our confidence is tied to our ability to not fall.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the problem, every Christian in the room has bruised elbows and scraped knees.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody knows that better than you.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are not yet who we should be.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we send in ways that we know we shouldn't, and we can't seem to help it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we think of us before the throne of God above, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you imagine that moment, and we know we've failed, we know that we've lived up to be who we should be.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know we should be further along than we are now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so how we feel is insecure, cowardly even.
[SPEAKER_00]: afraid, maybe terrified, because we know us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe if we wrote our own honest lyrics, it would say something like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before the throne of God above, I have a weak imperfect plea.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have more sin than I have love, Christ pleads for others, but not for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And how we live in these Christian lives is some sort of mix of apathy and insecurity, not very passionate about Christ, while also not being very sure that we're actually Christians.
[SPEAKER_00]: Question, don't you want more for your life with Jesus than that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, doesn't it, doesn't it sound so freeing to have the kind of confidence before God that this song sings about?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I could stand in the presence of God with zero fear in my heart because my name is written on his and I can sing every word and believe it with all that I have.
[SPEAKER_00]: That sounds so amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't describe myself as a super confident Christian but I want that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want that for me and I want that for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: helps us with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says this, by this we shall know that we are of the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: and reassure our heart before Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.
[SPEAKER_00]: John writes this here because his letter has been very honest about what it means to follow Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he writes this here because the church he's writing to is had a front row seat to what it looks like when someone who claimed to be a Christian reveals that they never truly were a Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: I imagine what's happening for people in the church is at least some of them are not very confident in where they stand before God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like maybe they're wondering to themselves, how could I go into the presence before the throne or God above without fear?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I know me and I know what John has written to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the way that the enemy says it in verse 19.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says this, this is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence.
[SPEAKER_00]: A heart at rest in his presence is what the Him is singing about.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a heart that is before the throne of God above and is at peace.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so John simply says, to have that kind of confidence before God, you have to deal with something in your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to deal with your condemning heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the way to deal with your condemning heart is to humble your heart before the greatness and knowledge of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what the passage is, from condemnation to humility to confidence before God.
[SPEAKER_00]: So look back with me at verse 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: For whenever our hearts can dim us,
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about this verse in January before we ever started the series, and so some of this will be familiar to you if you were here for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: This verse is naming something, I think it's unique in what it speaks to in all of the New Testament.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's naming how we relate to ourselves when your heart condemns you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's voices that?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's what God says about you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Then there's what other people say about you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there is what you say about yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what John is saying is sometimes you accuse yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: The condemning heart is your own voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Theologian Karen Jobes called it the inner acusing voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: And our own voice has a powerful effect on us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Councillor Paul Trips says it this way.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And John says there's a kind of self-speech that will threaten your confidence before God and it's the condemning heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's that inner accusing voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I ask you, imagine you before the throne of God, how do you feel what comes to mind if you felt insecurity or dread,
[SPEAKER_00]: fear, if you felt anything short of full confidence before God, it's because your heart can dim you and said something like you're too sinful, you're too self-righteous, you're not godly enough, you don't know enough or where did that voice come?
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody elbowed you and set that in that moment that's coming from inside yourself, you're speaking to yourself, your heart condemns you and this is the thing that John says we have to
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to know how to respond to that in order to have confidence before God.
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's what we need to know about the condemning heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it's a false accusation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm worthless.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one loves me, my life doesn't matter.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm the only one who struggles like I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I was gone, no one would miss me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything bad in my life is my fault.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's false accusation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It'll keep us from believing that anything about us is good.
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about obedience a few weeks ago and how important obedience is in the Christian life.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then we talked about that same alibiary quote.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, Obedience doesn't have to be perfect to be real.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not all or nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the condemning heart will say the opposite.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obedience only counts if it's perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you look at your life and maybe you've done some good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you've been a Christian for a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there is fruit in your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you've obeyed in real ways, but you also keep falling off the bike.
[SPEAKER_00]: and they're sitting in your heart and pride in your life, and what the condemning heart will say is it's all or nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you aren't all good, then that means there's nothing good.
[SPEAKER_00]: The condemning heart will make false accusations.
[SPEAKER_00]: The condemning heart will also tell you the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: John is so serious.
[SPEAKER_00]: about keeping the commands of Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so serious about loving one another, and he speaks with such zeal in this letter about holding on to the truth of Christ and in a way that comes out of your life as holiness.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know who knows where I fall short of all that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know better than you do, where I fall short about all that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what makes the inner accusing voice so powerful is that it knows it sees we cannot hide from ourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can't hide from ourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: We live in a part of the world that has all of these tricks and all of these resources for putting on a good front and wearing a mask and pretending to be something that we're not.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet the thing that we can't get away from
[SPEAKER_00]: that knows the gap between who we pretend to be and who we actually are.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so here's what we need to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes our hearts accuse us and it's right.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's telling us something that's true.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when your heart makes a true accusation about you, that's a sign of life, because when the heart can vix, it means you care.
[SPEAKER_00]: AWA tozer has this great quote.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a very bold preacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: He once preached on repentance for like 30 weeks, and someone in this church came up to him and was like, when are you going to stop preaching on repentance and he said, when you repent?
[SPEAKER_00]: So he was that kind of preacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was talking about what happens when he preaches parts of the Bible that are hard to hear.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he compares the response to two different trees.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says this.
[SPEAKER_00]: The tree that stands alive has lush green leaves.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take a knife, scar the bark deeply, and the tree will bleed.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: The old dead tree just stands there, a watch tower for crows.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take your knife and dig in as far as you want to, and nothing will happen because the tree is dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it is with my message.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you will get neither mad nor glad nor sad under my preaching, I know nothing can be done.
[SPEAKER_00]: The heart that never can fix, never accuses, is never mad or sad or glad.
[SPEAKER_00]: The heart that is unmoved is dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: First John is a punchy book.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a high call to serious obedience, and we've been in it in multiple spaces in our church.
[SPEAKER_00]: So please hear me.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you've been here for this series, multiple weeks, or you've been in Bible class in this book, or you've been in students where we've been in this book.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we've moved through these verses, if you've not felt a tinge of conviction or accusation, if you've been unmoved, that is a symptom of a lifeless heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what that means is your heart is doing something more dangerous than condemning you, it's excusing you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm good, I'm fine, that's for them, that's not for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just here to check a box and like a dead tree, there just is no fruit coming out of that life.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you, because you know you, hear the word of God, and then you experience that inner voice that says, oh no,
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I need grace, I need to confess what that means is that means the knife of God's word has found a bleeding heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's good news.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what my favorite kind of sermon feedback is?
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard all kinds of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been preaching for over a decade now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've heard all kinds of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: A guy came up to me once and said, great sermon, pastor, Jesmon.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I, but I couldn't get mad because I didn't know his name either.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, thanks, brother, all right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard all kinds of things great sermon.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard not your best work today.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, my inner accusing voice already told me that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's my favorite thing to hear.
[SPEAKER_00]: I needed that.
[SPEAKER_00]: People say it in all kinds of ways, but the simple heart of it is, I needed that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it means, here's why I love that, because it means the word of God fell on a living heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that heart was comforted, or that heart was convicted, it just means this that something more than a transfer of content happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord protect us from being the kinds of Christians who love to learn but hate to change.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to be good at sermons I want to be used by God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not always the same thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I needed that means God is working to change me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that only happens when a heart is alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: And often that what that means is the heart was accused by the Word of God, convicted by the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: So hear me.
[SPEAKER_00]: When your heart accuses you, it's not always telling the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it's lying to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: If your heart never accuses you, something's wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's what's true.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever is happening, when the heart accuses, you cannot stay there.
[SPEAKER_00]: You cannot just sit and listen to your heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: A condemning heart will make us restless in the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so to put our hearts at rest and his presence, we have to deal with the heart's accusation.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we do that?
[SPEAKER_00]: John does not give us steps.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, he gives us two truths about God.
[SPEAKER_00]: For whenever our heart condemns us,
[SPEAKER_00]: And he knows everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is foundational theology about the attributes of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are the inc communicable attributes of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: That means the things that are true about God that are not true about us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the seminary words for these two things are God's omnipotence.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's all powerful.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's greater and His omniscience.
[SPEAKER_00]: It means He's all knowing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I coach my daughter's soccer team.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're called the Sweet Cleats.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love coaching my kids in their sports.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've gotten to coach all three of them at different times and kids sports, I don't know if you know this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kids sports can be an incredibly dysfunctional, soul-crushing environment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it can be a powerful culture of discipleship and character shaping, it can, if you let it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're trying to lean into the latter and not be the former.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also take it way too seriously.
[SPEAKER_00]: I gain plan before games, and then I have our long post game processing sessions with the other coaches.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Bible has a word for my relationship to my kid sports.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's called idolatry.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the the sweet cleats played yesterday they are seven years old and at this age It's just about having fun and doing your best and we're on a three-game win streak So that was good Yesterday, I'm leading us in our pre-game cheers
[SPEAKER_00]: And our girls play so hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am so proud of them, playing hard is a part of what they celebrate about each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we put our hands in and they yell before the game.
[SPEAKER_00]: They will not work harder than us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like screaming this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's intimidating the other team, which is part of why we do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they're screaming they will not work harder than us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was really amped up yesterday because they were amped up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I asked them a question.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, does anyone work harder than you?
[SPEAKER_00]: And a few of them said, no, and one little girl said, God does.
[SPEAKER_00]: And everyone else looked at me like, well, what do you say to that?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I looked at her and I said, that is true.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's on our side.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just kidding.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't say that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what I loved.
[SPEAKER_00]: You should have seen her.
[SPEAKER_00]: She said, God does with the biggest smile on her face.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just that pure, simple child-like faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: We teach that here, God's in charge of everything, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And she was so happy to say that, God is bigger, and God is greater, nothing's actually hard for him, but however hard we work, God does more.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there was something about that, smile on her face, peace in her heart, and his greatness is something that she celebrated, and it's something that we celebrate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Presence and obnicious.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are good things.
[SPEAKER_00]: We celebrate those things.
[SPEAKER_00]: What it could feel like in this passage is that it's bad news God is greater and God knows everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we're talking about our condemning hearts So we're saying that whatever sin we know about God knows about more sin and whatever failure We know about God even knows about even more failure and however powerful we are to do anything about that God is even greater than that and so how is that good news for condemning heart?
[SPEAKER_00]: Theologian, Mary and Thompson explains that this is so helpful.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: The twin affirmations that God is greater than our heart and knows everything imply that the human heart is not the final standard of judgment or mercy God is.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ultimate basis of our relationship to God and confidence with God is not the steadfastness of Christians but the greatness of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Praise God.
[SPEAKER_00]: The human heart's not the final standard.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our confidence is not our steadfastness, but on God's greatness.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when our hearts condemn us, we have to humble our hearts before God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, please hear me.
[SPEAKER_00]: The condemning heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: makes accusations, but it does not pass the final verdict.
[SPEAKER_00]: God does.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your heart does not get the final word about you.
[SPEAKER_00]: God does.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm still trying to work out the best way to say this.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we're not the ones that get to decide how we're doing with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Most relationships go like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like knowing how things are going require two people to agree.
[SPEAKER_00]: I cannot completely answer that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can tell you how I think it's going to get the full, complete answer.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'd have to ask Carrie how she thinks our marriage is going.
[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes people have asked that and I've said we're doing great.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you would have asked her, she'd say, we need to talk.
[SPEAKER_00]: Other times, I'm like, man, we need work.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she would say, we're actually doing great.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the verdict of our relationship requires both voices.
[SPEAKER_00]: And neither one carries more weight in that than the other.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like that with a relationship of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: How's your relationship with God going?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, you'd have to ask God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's omnipotent, He's omniscient, He's greater than my heart, and He knows everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the point, what matters is not mostly what your heart tells you, what matters is what God has already spoken about you, and He has already said there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this will make the point.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is just one example of how we get this twisted.
[SPEAKER_00]: We say this thing sometimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know God forgives me, but I can't forgive myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that sounds humble, maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm taking my sin very seriously, and I'm so ashamed of what I've done, and a heart that says that needs assurance, and it needs empathy, and it needs follow-up questions, and all that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what that heart needs most is to be humbled unto the voice of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I can't forgive myself as a kind of pride that says, what my heart says about my sin is more important than what God says about my sin, and what I need to hear is God is greater than my heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: beloved.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we struggle with confidence before God, believing in the deepest part of our heart that we're loved by God, that we're actually Christians.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we struggle with that because the voice of accusation and the voice of condemnation is not only louder in our heart than God's, but we have given it more authority in our life than God.
[SPEAKER_00]: We literally think we know better than God about how we're doing with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we need to humble our hearts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me give you an example from scripture of somebody who did this well.
[SPEAKER_00]: You remember the conversation that Jesus has with Peter in John 21?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus tells us about it in his gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the only one who tells us the story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what happens, the context, the backstory for the conversation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before Jesus was arrested, he looked at his disciples and he said, I'm gonna be arrested and you're all gonna run away because you're very scared.
[SPEAKER_00]: and Peter, his heart lied to him, his heart said, no, no, no, they might run away, but even if they run away, I will not run away.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus says, actually Peter, you're gonna deny me three times and then a rooster's gonna grow.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason the rooster's gonna grow is because if the rooster didn't grow, you wouldn't remember that I told you that you would deny me three times.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter doubles down after Jesus says that and says, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few hours later, Jesus is being tried and beaten, and Peter's in a courtyard with a couple of servants, and they ask him three times.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're one of his followers, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're one of his friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter says no, and they ask him again, and Peter says no, and they ask him again, and Peter says no.
[SPEAKER_00]: And after the third time, the rooster grows, and Peter remembers, and he looks at Jesus, says Peter and Jesus make eye contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Peter runs off, and the Bible says he wept bitterly.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think his condemning heart sounded like in that moment?
[SPEAKER_00]: In the days that followed, even?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he thought he was the bravest disciple and he was the one who failed in the most public and painful way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he had to, he had to have relived that in his head seeing himself say, even if they deny you, I'll die with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he sees the face of Jesus as that last denial leaves his lips.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure in that span of time, his condemning heart said awful things to him and a lot of those were probably true.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he and Jesus talk about it in John 21.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the way he responds in this conversation is the mark of a changed heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus takes him back to where they first met on the north side of the Sea of Galilee.
[SPEAKER_00]: He calls him Simon Son of John, which is his pre-ministry name, the name that he went by before he ever did anything great for God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he asked him a question three times, and that's not a coincidence.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three denials, and Jesus meets those three denials with three questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what it says.
[SPEAKER_00]: When they had finished breakfast,
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon's son of John, do you love me more than these?
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, feed my lambs.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said to him, a second time, Simon's son of John, do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, tin my sheet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, the third time, Simon's son of John, do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter was grieved because he said him, the third time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, hey, she says.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon Son of John, do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: And he says, Jesus, I've followed you all these years.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've left my nets for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I walked on water, it didn't last very long, would at least I tried.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon Son of John, do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, how was the very first one?
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, I was the very first one to confess that you were the Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we knew these other guys did, I was the very first one.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say that.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't appeal to his spiritual resume.
[SPEAKER_00]: His confidence is not in himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: He tried that once and he was wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus asked, do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't try to prove himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon Son of John, do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I am so sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I swear, next time I won't deny you, I'll never do it again.
[SPEAKER_00]: I promise I've learned my lesson, please forgive me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I don't deserve to be here.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want me to leave, I'll go find everyone that was there when I denied you, and I'll tell them I am a follower of Christ, even if it means that they kill me, I will make it up to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say that.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't try to atone for sins that have already been forgiven.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't try and make right what he doesn't have the power to fix.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't trust himself like he did when his heart told him that he was braver than everyone else.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't flee from Jesus though, overwhelmed by shame.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say, I don't deserve to be here and he runs away and said he says this, you know everything, you know that I love you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, how can he say this?
[SPEAKER_00]: How can he so simply claim I love you when he has done all the things that he has done and failed in all the ways that he's failed and everyone knows it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can only say that if he believes that what Jesus says about him is more important than what his own heart says about him.
[SPEAKER_00]: For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know there is love here in Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know there's love here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not saying it's more than others.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not dare saying that it's what you deserve, but I am not trusting the amount of love I am trusting the object of my love.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the invitation of beloved.
[SPEAKER_00]: You bring your condemning heart to God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the accusations are false.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they're true.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what you need more than your own voice is you need the voice of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who knows all and sees all and is greater than all and what you need to do is you need to throw yourself at His mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the presence of God, we can say, you know everything, you know that I love you, you know all of my sin, and you knew all of that when you went to the cross for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: None of this is a prize to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love how sin now, Barry, says it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's long, but it's worth our time.
[SPEAKER_00]: We might think God's omniscience is a reason to feel troubled.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, he sees every single sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: We might be able to conceal from one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no getting anything past him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that is why God's knowledge is so comforting.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we feel most troubled in our spirit, we can remind ourselves that Jesus knew exactly what he was taking on when he got involved with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: We may be discovering first steps of sin in our heart, but none of its revelation to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was well aware of the extent of our sins when he carried them on his own shoulders at the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's far more acquainted with them than we are.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet he still lovingly laid down his life for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has no regrets about being our Savior.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the invitation is to come with that kind of confidence that the Jesus who knows all also has no regrets about having saved us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm not trusting my heart's accusation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am trusting the verdict that has already been spoken and I'm surrendering my voice to the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving voice of my savior.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea.
[SPEAKER_00]: A great high priest whose name is love, whoever lives and pleats for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Graven on his hands, my name is written on his heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue, not even my own, can bid me thins to part.
[SPEAKER_00]: Father, we need you.
[SPEAKER_00]: If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and so we are coming to you, and asking you to humble our hearts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, God would you break the heart that just doesn't care.
[SPEAKER_00]: You could in this moment take the dead tree heart and bring it back to life.
[SPEAKER_00]: In Lord, it's an unexpected thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a counterintuitive thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But for those of us who just desperately want to believe the gospel for ourselves, for those of us who want to believe that we can stand fearless in your presence, what you're asking us to do is get over our own voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: What you're asking us to do is to stop trusting our self-speech.
[SPEAKER_00]: What you're asking us to do is to bring our condemning heart, bring all of the accusation, and lay it before your throne.
[SPEAKER_00]: And ask Jesus what do you say?
[SPEAKER_00]: And to humble ourselves is that we,
[SPEAKER_00]: We need the strong and perfect plea of our Savior.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, friend, would you pray?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know exactly what you need to say, but maybe you just, in humility, you could pray a simple prayer like Peter and just say, you know everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know the love that's there, you know the sin that's there, you know the pride that's there, you know this in serobedience that's there, and... And would you just lay all of that before Him?
[SPEAKER_00]: And in exchange for all of that,
[SPEAKER_00]: Receive his priestly grace, sacrificial love, his once and for all victory over everything that's wrong with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need you, Lord Jesus, we need you.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need the less of ourselves and more of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.