1 John, Part 9: Confidence Before God

1 John 3:11-24 (BSB)

We are in week nine of our series in 1 John. John has been explaining that there are two types of people: those who are born again and are children of God, and those who practice lawlessness and are children of the devil. Now, he’s going to explain this further and again reassure the believers he’s writing to about how they can know for sure which type of person they are so they can be confident and unashamed at Jesus’ appearing.  

This confidence is more than just feeling assured of salvation. We all want to know God hears and will answer our prayers. We want to have confidence that we are in good standing with Him. How do we do that?

Well, let’s read our text for today, 1 John 3:11-24, and find out. And then we will go back through it, taking it one verse at a time. It says:

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

12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. 

13 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.

16 By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

17 If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

18 Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth. 

19 And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence:

20 Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God, 

22 and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.

23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us.

24 Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

Typical of John’s style, he is restating the same idea, but this time from a slightly different angle. Just as verse 11 says, this isn’t a new idea. He says, “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”

It’s the message that Jesus spoke. In John 13:34, Jesus said: “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.”

But now, John gives a new example of what loving one another looks like. He says in verse 12, “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.”

Like any good minister of the Gospel, John draws his examples from the pages of Scripture, and Cain and Abel are the perfect illustration. Here are two “children,” and one is clearly a child of the devil and the other is a child of God. How do we know? It’s obvious: we see how they behave.

Genesis 4:3-7 tells us what happened. It says, “So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD, while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. ‘Why are you angry,’ said the LORD to Cain, ‘and why has your countenance fallen? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.’” Then, if you know the rest of the story, Cain lures Abel out to a field and kills him.

John asks and answers his own question: Why did Cain kill Abel? He says it’s because Cain’s deeds were evil and his brother’s deeds were righteous, and therefore Cain “belonged to the evil one.”

It’s easy to dismiss Cain and feel confident that we are not like him, for of course we are not going to murder anyone. But how does this show up in our lives? Well, why is Cain angry? 

Is Cain angry because he didn’t please God or because his brother did? Was he jealous? There is a root of anger that can show up in our hearts that is dangerously similar to what we see in Cain. God says to him, “Why are you angry? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” 

God’s favor toward Abel exposed Cain’s jealousy of Abel. Cain hates that Abel pleased God. Proof of that is he murders him. I don’t think any of us would murder someone but let me challenge you to look deeper. When other people do what is right, are you truly happy for them, or do you feel worried that their faithfulness will expose your failure?

I think sometimes, when people follow God’s ways, it can make us irritated. We might feel judged because it might expose our shortcomings.

This is how the world operates, by the way. And that is why John points this out. In verse 13, he says, “So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.”

The world hates it when people follow God’s ways. Because righteousness exposes sin, the world opposes righteous living. They will even root for people’s moral failure. Cain acted like his gift was rejected because Abel’s was accepted. But Abel’s acceptance was not Cain’s rejection. Cain didn’t do what was right. Whether or not Abel’s gift was accepted, Cain’s was not going to be. But he couldn’t stand it. So, he took it out on Abel and murdered him.

This is a very important point, and we will come back to it later in the letter. But look at what John says next, in verse 14. Again, he says that this is a way to know if we’ve been born again. It’s a way to know if we truly are children of God or children of the devil. He says, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.”

If we are not loving our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are still “in death.” This goes along with what John said about knowing if we are born of God. In 1 John 3:10, he said, “By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”

When we come to faith in Jesus, we are born again, becoming new creations in Christ. If we love fellow Christians, then that’s one of the ways we can know that we have passed from death to life—that we have been born again.

Earlier too, in 1 John 2:11, John said, “But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Now, John adds in verse 15, not only is the person who hates his or her fellow Christian walking in darkness, but “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.”

Is John really saying that if we hate our brothers and sisters, then we are murderers like Cain? Well, look at what Jesus said about this.

In Matthew 5:21-22, in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.”

Jesus is pointing out that the sin that leads to murder begins in our hearts. When we hate or are angry unjustly, we are sinning. In the same way that Jesus points out that adultery begins as lust, and so we must not lust, we also must not hate our brethren in Christ. That’s because sin, left unchecked, always grows.

When Cain discovered that his offering was not acceptable to God, he had a choice to make. God even told him: “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.” Cain could have repented and obeyed God’s instructions and brought Him an acceptable offering. But he didn’t. He swung the door of sin wide open and murdered his brother.

Cain is the perfect illustration of what John has been writing about throughout this whole letter: If we truly love God, we will follow His commands. Even though Cain appeared to be following God by bringing a gift to God, there is clearly something very wrong with his heart. I don’t think any of us would conclude that Cain loved God. Cain not only failed to do what God said was right, but instead of repenting, he took his sin further.

John’s message is this: When righteousness exposes sin in us, children of God repent and grow—but those who are not of God resent it and lash out. Cain does the exact opposite of what children of God should do. Instead of loving his brother, he murders him. I think this is where John’s line of thinking was going, for look at what he says next.

In verse 16, John tells us what the greatest example of loving our brothers and sisters looks like. He says, “By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

What does this look like in practice? John tells us in verse 17. He says, “If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?”

It’s exactly as Jesus told us in His Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Jesus explains that on Judgement Day, He will separate the sheep from the goats. In Matthew 25, He says that the sheep are those who gave food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, hosted the stranger, clothed and cared for the sick, and visited those in prison. The goats are those who did not do those things. Because as Jesus explains in verse 40, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”

Jesus’ parable tells us that whatever we do for the least of these followers of Christ, we do for Jesus.

That’s why John asks us: If we see that one of our fellow brothers or sisters needs help, how can we ignore them and think God’s love abides in us?

Then, John summarizes this by urging us in verse 18, “Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.”

We must walk as Jesus walked. That’s how we know if we are abiding in Jesus. As he says in verse 19, “And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence.”

If we are walking as Jesus walked, and loving not only in word and speech, but in our actions and truth, then we can be assured that we are born again. We can have confidence that when we see Him face to face, we followed Him and walked as He walked. 

Then John adds a thought to this verse. He adds in verse 20, that “Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.”

Now, there are two ways of looking at these verses. There is one school of thought that interprets it to mean that we might feel like we are failing to love in action and truth, but God, who is greater than us, knows all things and so knows we mean well. So even if we feel like a failure, God knows us and loves us.

But there is also another way of looking at this verse. Before I explain it, we should all know that the Greek word translated as “assure” is peithó, and it means, “To persuade, to convince.” So, John had just said that the way to know if we are loving others is to examine our actions. If we do, and our own heart condemns us, then that should convince us that we must be guilty of not loving in action and in truth the way we should be. Because if our own hearts condemn us, then what does God say? For He is greater than our hearts and knows all things. He can search us deeper than we can. We might try to hide or excuse away our true motives, but God sees it all.

Matthew Henry agrees with this interpretation. He says, “If conscience condemns us in known sin, or the neglect of known duty, God does so too.”

I agree with this understanding because our conscience is a tricky thing. We can make all sorts of excuses for ourselves. As 1 Corinthians 4:4 says, “My conscience is clear, but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who judges me.” And as Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.”

So, if our own hearts, which are so quick to excuse sin, actually condemn us, then that must mean there really is a problem. Because then John adds, in verse 21, “Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God.”

If we examine ourselves and see that we are doing our best to walk as Jesus walked, then we can have confidence. And this confidence is also assurance that God hears us when we pray. For look what John says in verse 22. We have confidence before God “and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.”

Not only can we have confidence that we will receive what we request from the Lord, but did you realize by keeping the commandments we can have confidence that God is listening to our prayers?

In the same way that we must love God and love others in order to abide in Jesus, so too, for God to answer our prayers, we must keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. This should be general knowledge, and yet I don’t know that it is.

In John 9:31, a blind man whom Jesus had healed and given sight to stated, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.” That shows us that this was understood to be a basic fact. The Old Testament has many verses that attest to this, too. Just one as an example is Psalm 66:18, which says, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” And in the New Testament, we also see this same thing. 1 Peter 3:12 says, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

In order for God to hear our prayers, we must abide in Christ. That’s because it’s only because of Jesus that we can approach the throne of God confidently. It’s because Jesus became our Great High Priest, as Hebrews 4:16 says, that we can “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

But again, to abide in Christ, and for God to hear and answer our prayers, we must follow His commandments. And, to emphasize this point again, in verse 23 John reminds us of what those commandments are. He says, “And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us.”

Here is the familiar refrain that John keeps repeating. And he states it yet again in verse 24. He says: “Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.”

The Holy Spirit will confirm to us whether we are keeping the commandments. The key is listening to the Spirit.

Maybe, like me, as we’ve been going through this series, the Holy Spirit has been pointing out people whom you need to love better. Is there someone who has come to your mind as we’ve been reading God’s Word? Or maybe you realize that you aren’t as confident before the Lord as you’d like to be. Maybe you can relate to some of the feelings we see exemplified in Cain?

The believers John is writing to are taking their faith seriously. Earlier in this chapter John had said to them, “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.” He knew they were striving to live righteously. So, John is not saying this to people who are lackadaisical in their faith. Yet he wanted to urge them not to become complacent. He wanted them to resist the ways of the world and keep their focus on Jesus and the Word.

As Galatians 6:9-10 encourages us, “Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.” None of us loves perfectly like Jesus does, but Jesus will help us.

But I think it’s difficult to love other people if we haven’t first realized just how much the Lord loves us. Looking again at Cain, had he loved God and understood the depth of love that God had for him, wouldn’t he have done what was right? Certainly, he wouldn’t have murdered his brother. Have you realized just how much Jesus loves you? Do you feel secure in that knowledge? Have you heard, seen, reached out and touched that great love? When righteousness exposes your shortcomings, do you use that opportunity to repent or do you lash out and open the door to sin wider? Because when righteousness exposes us, we will always go one of two directions: we will either repent and grow, or we will resent it and harden our hearts.

Let us grow in our love and obedience to God’s Word. As we obey God’s Word, His love is perfected in us. Then instead of embracing sin, we will confess our sins and turn from them. Then we can be free to love other people wholeheartedly, not holding back. Then we can be assured before the Lord, confident that He hears our prayers, secure in the knowledge that He loves us and cares for us.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us. Please help us to understand even more just how great of a love it truly is. Help us to love the people You have placed around us. We want to love like You do, so we can better reflect Your love to the world so they might love You, too. And when You expose the sin in our lives, please help us to repent and change, so we can walk in freedom and live righteously, and not go further in sin. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.