Audio Transcript:

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Heavenly Father, on communion Sunday today, we just want to take a moment to confess that we are sinners, that we are selfish, that all too often our own self-interests dominate our thoughts, dominate our imaginations, and take up our energy. Lord, I pray today that you focus our gaze from ourselves and refocus it on you. We are not glorious. We are not infinite. You are glorious, and you are infinite, and you are love. We thank you, Lord, that you showed us with true love is, that you, the Father, gave your Son, your beloved, the one in whom you delight, and, Jesus, that you showed us what love is, that you gave yourself for us on the cross, that you through the gospel defined for us that true love is action, that true love is sacrifice of self for the benefit of others and that sin is diametrically opposed. It's seeking self-interest even at the sacrifice of the interest of others.

I pray, Holy Spirit, show us that deep inside our hearts, we're still struggling with hate. Even as your children, as your beloved, there's still this darkness, this streak of Cain within each one of us. I pray, little by little, incrementally, remove it and transform us into the image of your Son. Holy Spirit, we pray that you come and speak to us, speak a word that every single one of us needs to hear, specific words from you. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. We're in a sermon series through the epistle of 1 John, the apostle of love. We're calling it Meno. Meno means to abide in the original Greek, abide, to be connected, to keep in step with the Spirit, to have our heart be intact with the heart of God, the Father.

John, if you haven't noticed, John is a person who understands that the world's divided into two, two kingdoms, one of light, one of darkness. There's two fathers, God, the Father, and the enemy. There's two DNAs spiritually speaking, two spiritual essences. There's righteousness and unrighteousness. Today he wants to delve into the topic of what love is, and he compares and contrasts love with hate, love and hate. The word love, not just in the English language, but in every language, it's one of the most elastic words. It's been stretched to mean so many things. It's one of the most misused and overused and abused words, used in so many ways of so many things, and often it's employed actually to describe something that is opposite of what love truly is from God's perspective. I'll just give you one example of this from the Old Testament.

It's the story of Amnon and Tamar in 2 Samuel 13. Scripture says that Amnon fell in love with Tamar. He loved her with an incredible love, and he does everything he possibly can in order to woo her. In pursuit of this "love," he deceives her, ultimately rapes her, and ruins her life. Then, as scripture says, almost immediately after that heinous act, it says that his love for her morphed into a hate that was even more intense than the intensity of the love that he had for her. Love for him wasn't a true love. It wasn't a sacrificial love. It was actually just a synonym for selfish desire, which is actually hatred. Scripture says that true love isn't just sentiment. It's not just affection. True love is self-sacrifice for the benefit of the beloved. Hate is the opposite, where you're willing to sacrifice the best, the benefit, the interests of the other person for self, for your yourself.

Here, as we get into the text, one of the things that the apostle John wants us to realize is that, in and of ourselves, naturally speaking, we can not love like this. We can not love with this kind of love. Naturally, we love people that can benefit us in some way. We love people that can help us in some way. We love people that love us. Oh, you love me. Thank you. You have such good taste in people like me. Thanks so much. I love the fact that you love me. Supernatural love isn't just loving people who are lovely or loving people who love us. Supernatural love is I'm willing to sacrifice even for enemies. That's what Jesus said. Love your enemies even as yourself. It's a supernatural love, and we can only do it by the power of the Spirit.

Today we're in 1 John chapter three verses 11 through 24, 1 John chapter three 11 through 24. Would you look at the text with me? "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. From whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him, and by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given to us." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.

Three points, the first two really straight forward. Stop hating people. Number two, start loving people, and, number three, greater than your heart. First of all, stop hating people, kind of common sense. John, why do you even have to tell us? In particular, he's writing this letter to Christians. You are children of God. You have God's love in you. You have experienced God's love. Why does he need to command us to do what we should do naturally? This is verse 11, "For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." Then he brings in a case study. "We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." It seems like this case study's out of nowhere. Talking to Christians, you should love another. Okay, great. Now he's like, "Let me contrast that. Let me bring in the most severe example I can have the opposite of love."

Why do we as Christians need to hear this? Well, first of all, he's dividing the world, again, into two categories, those who love and those who hate, those who are of the pattern of Abel who was righteous and was saved by grace through faith and those who were like Cain. He says you have been saved to be like Abel. You have saved by grace through faith. You are now loving. However, be careful of the streak of Cain that every single one of us is susceptible to. Though God has given you a brand new heart, a heart that loves God and loves people, if you do not practice this love, the hate within can dominate. There is a little Cain within each one of us. He starts talking about this hatred and murder, and it seems so extreme. Why are you telling us this? It seems extreme if we look at love and hate in terms of our cultural definitions.

Love for people today is just kindness or being a good person or being nice to people, and hate is just an extreme reaction emotionally speaking, but when scripture talks about love and hate, it doesn't talk about emotions per se. Love, Biblically speaking, is self-sacrifice for the benefit of other. Hatred is being willing to sacrifice others for self. Now we got to ask, "Why is Cain the epitome of this hatred? Why is he the example?" Well, he's the example, and primarily because Cain and Abel were the first people born under the curse of sin. The curse of sin's deep within every single one of us. It's a bent toward self. It's the self-centered bent of human nature. I'll help you if it helps me. However, if helping you doesn't help me at all, then if it's going to be too much of a hassle, if it comes down to you or me, obviously I'm going to choose me. If push comes to shove, I will push, I will shove. That is human nature.

Now he brings in the example of Cain, and this is a really fascinating case study because Cain and Abel are brothers raised by Adam and Eve, their same set of parents who discipled Cain and Abel the same way. Abel, he worked with animals. He was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer, different livelihoods, different vocations, however, same parents. One of the things that we realize is the contrast here isn't between Abel, who is like a Christian and a religious person, and Cain, who is an atheist. The contrast is between a person who by faith responds to God's commandments and one who responds by works. Now, here's how it played out. They both bring sacrifices. Abel brings an animal sacrifice, and Cain brings vegetable or plant sacrifices, but both bring from their first fruits. Both bring from their livelihood. The question there isn't about the type of sacrifice.

The question isn't about what we bring in our hands to God. The question from God's perspective that it's most important isn't what we bring in our hands but what we bring in our hearts. Abel, Hebrews 11:4 says, comes to God and brings a sacrifice by faith. Cain does not. This shows us that his relationship with God is already tenuous. There's something going on in his heart. Well, what's going on? We see later on that God rejects Cain's sacrifice, and Cain begins to seethe. There's anger in his heart. God then comes again and says, "Look, Cain, be careful. There's sin crouching at your door like a predator. If you do not control, if you do not overpower, it will overpower you." Why that reaction came to God's saying, "Look, I'm giving you another chance. Now come to me with faith instead of works," well, we see what's going on in his heart before he lashes out at his brother and actually murders him by slitting his throat.

That's the word spousal in the Greek. He slaughters and butches his brother out of hate. Before he had hate in his heart towards his brother, he had hate in his heart to God. Now we need to analyze what was that hate in his heart to God. Well, with what kind of posture of heart did he bring a sacrifice to God? Love? No, indifference. He comes to God in order to manipulate God. He comes to God, gives God what he thinks God wants to get God off his back. God sees that. He sees the manipulation, and he rejects it, and then we see Cain lashing out at his brother. What's going on in his heart? Well, John tells us this. He says Cain was of the evil one. Cain's spiritual DNA is similar to that of Satan. Now we do a little more analysis. What made Satan Satan? Satan was the greatest angel of all the angels, of the greatest army of angels, he was in charge. He was the number two before God.

What made Satan Satan? What made Satan Satan was he wanted to get rid of God. He wished that God were not. He wanted to mentally murder God. That's what made Satan Satan. Here, John tells us that Cain is of the evil one. What does Cain want to do? Cain hates the implacable fact that God exists, that God is omniscient, that God is omnipresent. He hates that fact. He can't get rid of God, so he wants to pay God off, manipulate God to ultimately get what he wants. Cain was of the evil one because Cain wanted God gone. He wanted God to be dead to him. That gets to the heart of what hate is. Cain, ultimately, he can't get rid of God, so now he turns to his brother Abel, hates Abel. What does he do? He physically murders Abel, but the physical murder came only after there was mental murder or heart murder. He wished that Abel were not. That's what hate is.

Now we can apply this. With this definition, we see hate in our hearts all the time. You're driving. Someone's going 45 in the high speed lane. I wish that you were not in the lane. That's what I'm saying. You don't vocalize this. Someone's not using their blinker. I wish that you were not. Double parking on Beacon, I wish that you were not. You're in the self-checkout lane at Stop & Shop and someone uses it for the first time ever. I wish that you were not. Now, you can apply this to your boss. You can apply this to colleagues with whom you're competing for promotions or someone that you competing with for a grant or a scholarship. My life would be easier. I wish that you were not. Now, the reason why John uses this story, employs this story, is because these are brothers. These guys know each other like no one else knows them.

I'm telling you you've heard the adage, the line between hate and evil is thin. That's a thin line, in particular with people who are closest to you. Have you ever thought that, "I wish that you were not," about a sibling, about a child, about a spouse? It's so crazy. One moment, you love them so much. You're snuggling. Everything is great. Then another moment, you're like, and something's going on. That's that streak of Cain that John is talking about. He says be careful. In particular, he's talking about the brethren, brothers and sisters in a church where God makes you spiritual siblings. You didn't choose one another. You're spiritual siblings. You can think of the people closest in your life. These are the people where it takes a sacrifice of self, of convenience, of comfort, of your own preferences in order to love.

The fact that we do love, the fact that we want to grow in love is a sign that we have become children. That's verse 14, 1 John 3:14, "And we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death." Here we got to ask ourselves, "Are there specific brothers and sisters in my life, Christians in my life whom I'm seeking to love?" If so, that's a sign that we are children of God. If not, perhaps you have not... If that's not even a category in your mind, that I should pursue loving other Christians, if that's not even a category, perhaps you need to ask, "Have I passed from death into life?" The assumption here is that people don't begin neutral spiritually or basically good. Ephesians 2:1 says that we are born in a state of spiritual death. John 5:24, "Truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life."

If you're unsure of your salvation, if you're like, "I don't know if I'm a Christian," scripture says all you need to do is place your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, repent of sin, and now you pass from death to life. The signs of that life, the signs of that first heartbeat, are love toward God and love toward neighbor. Verse 15, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." Again, he gets to the final consummation of what happens when hate is birthed in our hearts. What it does is lead to ultimate murder. That's the end. We want that person gone, but Jesus doesn't focus on the murder. In Sermon on the Mount, he says, "If anyone is angry toward a brother or sister or another person, you have already committed murder in your heart." He's saying that murder in the heart, hatred in the heart, is tantamount to real murder because you are wishing that they were not.

The other thing I will just mention here, he's talking about murderers and that murderers are representative of their father, of Satan. Scripture says that anybody who's done absolutely anything can come to God and repent of sin. Even the sin of murder can be forgiven. Any person who's still alive, if you're still breathing, you can be made right with God through repentance. The moment you repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, your sins are forgiven. This is the only way our sins are forgiven. Our culture is at a point where the only thing you need to do to go to heaven is die. That's false. You need to repent. You need to believe. That's the only way. Stop hating, and we're all struggling with that. How do we get rid of the hate in our heart? We need to grow in love or start loving people. Again, love is action. Love isn't just emotion or feeling. It's action. It's what we do.

What are we doing to love the people in our lives? What are we doing to encourage, to help, to care, to lift them up? What are we doing to grow in generosity? We're doing this not because they deserve our love. We're doing this, we're loving them, not because we're just responding to their love for us. We're loving them in the same way that Jesus Christ loved us. How did Jesus Christ love us? When we are yet sinners, when we're still enemies, he gave himself for us. This is how we truly understand love. In verse 16 he says, "By this we know." How do we know? By this we know that he loves us, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. He says this is the definition of love. It's laying down your life for another, sacrificing the greatest thing that you have for the benefit of the other person. I love the sublimity of thought and simplicity of words. I understand every single one of these words, and you bring it together and it's like, yeah, that is the greatest love.

The greatest movies you've ever watched, there's always someone giving their life for friends, for other people. We understand this is the greatest sacrifice. This is how scripture talks about love. That the greatest, most supreme demonstration of true love, it's always the cross. Whenever the New Testament talks about God's love, it always talks about God's love in the context of the cross. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." You see this Galatians 2:20, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 5:25. This right here, this is true love. When you realize what Christ did for you, it melts your heart, begins to push the darkness out and replaces it with love. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that. Hatred even just for hatred can't get rid of hatred. Only love can dispel the hatred in our hearts."

When we experience God's love, we begin to experience that God is true love. This right here allows us to sacrifice self-interest for the interest of others. It's a miracle. It's miraculous when it happens. Every time when it happens in your life, you need to attribute it to the work of the Holy Spirit and give God the glory. One example of this from game theory, if you study game theory... This is first semester econ in college. We're going to go back there to the prisoner's dilemma. Remember the prisoner's dilemma? There's two prisoners, and both of them have been arrested. They committed a crime together, maybe, allegedly. We're not sure. They're in different rooms with detectives. If one guy confesses, gets off scot-free, and the other guy gets 20 years. If one guy does not confess, say, "I didn't do it," and the other guy says, "I didn't do it either. We didn't do it," they get off but only after like six months prison sentence.

If each of them confesses, they get 15 years.Now you got to do the math. What do I think my partner is going to do? Are they going to confess or not? Well, it's in their best interest to confess because if they confess and I don't confess, they get off, I get 20 years. It's also in my best interest to confess because if they don't confess, the same thing happens. If both of us confess, we get 15 years, which is bad, but it's not as bad as 20 years. What economists say is like most people are reasonable actors, and most of them act in their best interest. Most people say, "I'm going to confess because I'd rather take 15 years than 20." Now, I'm not saying we're prisoners. We didn't commit crimes, hopefully.

Here's how it applies to us. Imagine if everybody lived like this. Imagine what the world would be if everybody acted not in their own self-interests but in the self-interest of the other person. This is so great. Deep down inside we know that this is how we ought to be. This is the is-ought dilemma. John's like, "You ought to be loving. Why do I have to tell you? Because you're not loving." Everybody in the world, we know that the world would be a much better place if people were loving. Where do we get the power to do it? We get the power, the spiritual resources to do that from the Holy Spirit, from Christ. John talks about this is the greatest love. We should love like this, and the greatest level of love is to give your life for the brethren, give you your life for other people.

Here he's asking us a question, "Would you honestly be willing to die for another person, in particular other Christians? Would you be willing to die?" You've got to meditate on that. It's easy to say, "Yes, I would," until that moment comes. That's where John takes us emotionally. Are you willing to die for other Christians? Then he gives us verse 17. Wat he's saying is, "If you're willing to die for them, then why aren't you willing to live for them? If you're willing to give the greatest sacrifice, which is your life, then why aren't you willing to sacrifice things in your life for this person, be it time, convenience, comfort, money, what have you?" That's verse 17, "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, sees other Christians in need in particular, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

Are you growing in love? Well, let's look at your life. Let's look at what you do. Let's look at your calendar. Let's look at your budget. Are you budgeting for generosity? Are you budgeting margin in your calendar in order to act out love, in order to give acts of love? You see all this throughout scripture. The greatest example is the story of the good Samaritan. A priest walks by, a rabbi walks by this person who was mugged. Then, finally a Samaritan walks by, a person of the wrong race according to the cultural Jews. He comes, and he's inconvenienced for his time. Now he lost a day from his schedule. He's going to make up all that work. Now he finances the guy's stay at a hotel, finances the medical attention. He's inconvenienced. He's sacrificing time, convenience, comfort for the benefit of the other person. Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."

Are there people in your community that you're looking to bless, looking to love just in action? That's number one. Number two, scripture teaches that we are to have a posture of heart. We're ready for it, where we do. Some of them was godly Christians I know at Mosaic, I know that they do this personally because they come to me sometimes. They're like, "Pastor Jan, we budgeted this much to give people in need. To whom should we give?" That's so inspiring to actually practice this systematically, to help others, and to love others. Obviously this doesn't mean that we indiscriminately dole out money to people who are irresponsible. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 through 12 says, "For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone was not willing to work, let them not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living."

If you're running out of energy to love people, and I'm here. I'm here every once in awhile, mostly Mondays like before 10:00 AM, before my coffee. You feel like it's the energy to love people is gone. You've just given so much. Where do you get the energy to keep loving and keep giving? John would say you just need to spend time in the Lord, abide in him, in his love. Meditate in what God has given you. He's given his Son so that you can give now of yourself. He's forgiven so that you can now be forgiving. He's served so that now you can serve. The other thing I just want to point out here before we move to point three is that we love not to earn affection from God, not to earn salvation from God, not to earn acceptance from God. We love because we are his children and we can't but love.

The imperative to love flows from the indicative of this is what's happened to you. You love because you have become loving. You see this in 1 John 13:14. He says, "We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. We love the..." This is what he said, "We love the brothers." John, why do you need to tell us to love the brothers or love Christians or love people if we already do it? That's verse 14. You are a Christian. You are beloved from God. You love people. Then he tells us verse 11, "This is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." That's the imperative. We love. You should love. Verse 16, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." We love. You ought to love.

Verse 18, "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." Again, the imperative, and the imperative flows out of the indicative. What's going on, he's like, "You have been miraculously regenerated. God has made you his child. The DNA of God's seed is within you now. Practice love. Grow in love. Make sure of your salvation and your calling and your election," scripture says. Possess your possessions. Be who you are. We need that reminder every once in a while. We kind of forget with the hustle and bustle of life, with jobs and busy schedule. We kind of forget. This is who I am. My nature is that I'm a child of God. God has loved me. I am his beloved, therefore I am to love.

Point three is greater than your heart. Stop loving, start loving greater than your heart. What's John doing here? Well, John has written this letter for the purpose of helping Christians realize that they're Christians, to have confirmation. I want you to know that you have eternal life. Simultaneously, what he wants to do is if anyone is not a Christian to awaken them from this lie, the self-deception that they are Christians. John here, and we've talked about this in the first sermon, he gives these three tests over and over with which we can examine our salvation. Test number one is doctrinally. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died on the cross for your sins, that he bore the wrath of God that we deserve, that by grace through faith when you believe in him, all your sins are forgiven, there's no condemnation now?

Doctrinally, morally, do you seek to obey God now? Do you seek to live righteously, honor him, and please him? Then relationally, do you love God? Do you love people? Now, he sets the standards so high, and he understands that for some some Christians who are true Christians, when they see how high the standard is and how far they fall short of that standard, that their hearts begin to condemn them. That's the scene that he sets in verse 19 and 20, "By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. For whenever a heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything." He says at some point, even for Christians, our hearts will condemn us. The scene that he sets is that God is judge. There's my heart who's the lawyer that's accusing me and then myself.

Sometimes Satan accuses us. Sometimes it's own heart, where our own heart says, "Look, you're as loving as he ought to be. Look, the pattern of your life is so selfish. The pattern of your life is so unrighteous. You're probably not a Christian." John would say go through those three tests, but then also he says, verse 19, "By this we know we are of the truth and reassure our heart." When our hearts condemn us, he says, look to this. By this... What's the this? That's the previous verses, 17 and 18, where he says that we love the brethren. We sacrifice. We give of our physical goods, and we give of our time, and we give of our money. There's a track record in our life of loving people in a supernatural way.

He says so even if today your heart is condemning you, questioning your salvation, look at your track record since you became a Christian. Have there been moments of supernatural love, and are you growing in that? If so, if you can point to times in your life and like, "That definitely wasn't me. Wow, God really showed up here. God showed up here. God showed up here. God helped me love this difficult person and this difficult person and that difficult person," that right there is proof, that track record is that, that you are a child of God. When we fall, he's saying, when we have moments of doubt, self-condemnation, don't focus on the failures. Focus instead on this track record of growth in the Lord. Refocus on the times that God's love has flowed through you. That's verse 19. He says, "Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything."

Assumption in your heart is not infallible even as a Christian. Then the other thing that's really fascinating is that he brings in God's omniscience, that God knows everything, and he brings it in in order to bring comfort and relief to the Christians instead of a cause or a concern. Whenever I think that God knows everything, knows all of my sin, knows all the sinful inclinations in my heart, like it scares me. John says, "Look, for the true believer, God knows that you want to obey him. God knows that you want to grow in love, and he knows your battle. He knows your temptation. You can be reassured that if there is this track record, you can be reassured that God knows. He knows the imperfections. He knows your desire to love, obey for Jesus' sake, and God will continue to equip." You see this in Romans eight verse one, "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

If you're in Christ, there's no condemnation. Then, in verse 31 through 34, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who is going to condemn us if we are in Christ Jesus? Not even our own fallible hearts." One example of this is the heartbreaking story of Peter, the apostle Peter who denies Jesus, three times denies Jesus. In John 21, Jesus, the resurrected Christ, meets the disciples on the beach. He's got some fish that he's broiling for them. He's cooking for him. It's a wonderful scene, just a brunch on the beach.

Then Jesus says, "Peter, let's go for a walk." This is where Jesus asks him the three heartbreaking questions, where he says, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter said, "Oh, you know I love you." "Peter, do you love me?" "Yes, of course I love you." Finally, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter's response is, "Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you." This is a fascinating response because what was happening in Peter's life was a crisis of faith. Do I? I think I love him, but I just denied him three times. Jesus here reinstates Peter, gives him more grace. Peter's saying, "Lord, as far as I know, I do, but you know greater." That's what John is saying. Even for the Christian who's struggling to love, struggling to follow, who's struggling to obey, if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you are attempting to grow in love and there's a track record of growth, God is going to give comfort to the heart. He will give a confident heart.

That's the phrase that he uses in verse 31, "If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God." God brings confidence to our condemning heart and gives grace. We have confidence before God. The word means boldness of a child coming to the father as opposed to the accused appearing before a judge. Then he gives us these two benefits of walking with the Lord, two benefits of the confident heart when you know that you're in Christ. The first is answered prayer. This is verse 22, "Whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him." By the way, this is a staggering claim, that a child of God, whatever you ask, God will give it to you, but there's conditions. The first condition is that we seek to grow in obedience. We're seeking to obey his commandments and do what pleases him, meaning that if there's disobedience in your heart, knowing sin, like sin that you know of in your heart, it interferes with our prayers to God. It gets in the way. That's number one.

Number number two, we need to understand that whatever we ask, it has to be in accord with God's will. That's what in Jesus' name means. A lot of people pray whatever they want and they think, "If I tack on Jesus' name at the end, like, 'Lord, please let me win the Powerball, and I'll tithe the off the winnings, post taxes, in Jesus' name.'" That's not... In Jesus' name means according to God's will, for God's glory. He says, "Are you seeking to live an obedient life?" The Christian who's seeking to live an obedient life, praying in Jesus' name for God's glory, can point to prayers in their life that have been answered, one after another after another after another. Some of the most righteous people I know in my life, whenever I come to them with a prayer, this is why they're on my team, I ask them to pray, and you just see there's this track record.

Scripture says, "The prayer of a righteous person availeth much." It's powerful. Are your prayers being answered? God often doesn't answer in our timing, and God often answers with what we really need, what we would have asked for if we knew everything that God knows. One of the prayers that I've always been curious about is when Jesus to Peter, as he prophesies that Peter is going to deny him, Jesus says this, "I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail." I've always thought that's a fascinating prayer. Jesus, why are you praying for his faith to not fail? Why not pray for him not to deny you? That's a puzzle, but Peter needed to go through that trial to cement his faith for everything that was coming. Jesus will always give us, to his children, what we really need, not necessarily what we desire at the time.

Then, the second blessing after the answered prayer, verse 24, "Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us." This is incredible because he says when we keep his commandments, when we're striving to keep his commandments, we understand that it's the Spirit at work with us. The Spirit of God is abiding in us. This is an important verse because when a lot of people talk about the Holy Spirit, they connect the Holy Spirit with subjective experience, emotional experience. Oh, I felt the Spirit today in worship. I got some goosebumps. I love when I feel the Spirit. I love when I feel the presence of God, when the presence of God is heavy in a place. I love those moments. However, that's not what he's focused. He's not just focused on the subjective experience of the Holy Spirit.

He's not saying, "By this you know the Spirit is with you because you feel him." He says, "By this you know that the Spirit is with you. Whoever keeps his commandments," meaning can you look at your life and say, "I desire to keep God's commandments. I desire to live according to the will of God. I desire to please God. I desire to believe in Christ"? If so, that right there is miraculous, and that is a sign of the objective work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Stop hating, start loving, and God is greater than our own condemning hearts. At this time, we're going to transition to holy communion. Holy communion is an opportunity for Christians who are repentant to celebrate God's grace. For whom is holy communion? It's for anyone who is repentant, anyone who has repented of sin and today continues to repent of sin.

If you're a Christian and in your life there is sin, in particular relational sin that we talked about, hate, hostility, bitterness toward another person, today's an opportunity to repent. We are called to repent before we take communion. If you are not a Christian, if you have not repented of sin, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service or repent of your sins today, and then you're welcome to partake. The way that we celebrate communion is the ushers are going to hand out the elements, the bread and the cup. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ broken for us to heal our souls, and the cup symbolizes the blood of Christ that was shed for us to cleanse us from sin and guilt.

The ushers are going to hand them, out the elements. Please hold onto them, and then we'll partake together afterwards. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this time in the holy scriptures. Lord, what a word that you've given us, that we can be your children and that we can grow in love, not to get something from you, not to earn acceptance, but because you have loved us. You have made us your beloved children, and you have made us loving. Now help us grow in that love. Jesus, we thank you that you showed us what true love is. You met our greatest, most tangible need, which is reconciliation with God the Father. We thank you for your sacrifice, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.