Gospel Truths That Will Heal a Hurting Heart and Cure a Condemning Conscience

The wonderful Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon had words of wisdom that drive home the truths of these verses:

Believers with clear consciences, confident access, and obedient lives that please Christ can be assured that God will hear and answer their prayers for their good and for His glory. After all, I am a trusting child coming to a loving Father who knows all my sins and imperfections and still loves me and accepts me anyway in His Son.

Believe That Jesus Is the Son of God, and Love One Another

1 John 3:23

This verse (together with the one that follows) is quietly but clearly Trinitarian, and it provides a grand and glorious summary of the Bible. It is interesting how John packages this verse. Fundamentally, there is one comprehensive command expressed in two parts. First, there must be an explicit belief in the Son, Jesus Christ. This is John's doctrinal test. Second, there must be an active love for one another. This is John's moral test.

God's command is "that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ." Every word in this command is significant. This is the first of nine occurrences of the word "believe" in 1 John (cf. also 3:23; 4:1, 16; 5:1, 5,10[3x],13). It means, "to trust or rely on." Jesus' "name" conveys His person and work and all that He is and accomplishes. That Jesus is the "Son" emphasizes His eternal deity and unique relationship to the Father. "Jesus" is His human name, equivalent to the Hebrew name Joshua. It means "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation." And "Christ" means "Anointed One," the Messiah of God.

Let's put it all together. To believe in the name of God's Son Jesus Christ is to place your trust, your faith, in Him and only Him and all that He is—the divine Son, the incarnate Deity, the sinless human, the perfect atonement for our sin, the Messianic Savior. You trust all of Him, 88not some, part, or even most. You trust the biblical Christ or you trust in no Christ at all.

We also "love one another as He commanded us." This command appears repeatedly throughout the Bible. Arguably, the most significant appearance of the command is found in John 13:34-35, where Jesus said on the night He was betrayed,

It appears again in John's Gospel in 15:12 and 17.

Warren Wiersbe nails the essence of this verse quite well for us: "Faith toward God and love toward man sum up a Christian's obligations. Christianity is 'faith which worketh by love' (Gal 5:6)" (Be Real, 133-34). John Piper helpfully adds,

This last statement provides a natural transition to our final observation.

Abide in God and Know That God Abides in Us
by the Gift of His Spirit

1 John 3:24

John addresses our keeping the commands of God for the fourth time in verses 22-24, but now he adds a blessing that flows from our obedience. Working backwards and paraphrasing the verse helps us clarify what John is teaching us. By the Holy Spirit, whom God has given us as a grace gift, we know that God abides in us and we abide in God. And, as a habit of his new life in Christ, the one who abides in God continually keeps His commands. John's point is that keeping God's commands and abiding in God always go together. Having the Spirit of God and abiding or remaining in God always go together. John's emphasis on abiding is clear in that 54 of the 102 New Testament occurrences of this word (Gk meno) appear in John's writings.

John clearly wants us to understand that the Spirit—the true Spirit who stands in radical contrast to the false spirits of antichrist89 (cf. 4:1-6)—comes as a gift, not as something God was obliged to give us. He is given to us as a grace gift; He is not something we can earn or merit. In saying the Spirit has already been given to us, John looks to the past, to our conversion, the moment in time when we first believed the gospel. That is when we received the Spirit.

Verse 24 is the first direct mention of the Holy Spirit in 1 John. This Third Person of the triune God is essential to God's abiding in us and our abiding in God. He is crucial to helping us discern the false spirits—the spirits of error—that do not confess that Jesus is from God (cf. 4:3). John Stott explains the Spirit's role in our abiding in this way:

Conclusion

A number of years ago I met a 55-year-old man who asked if he could share his conversion testimony. I said, "Sure! I would love to hear it." He told me he had trusted Christ at the age of 50, just 5 years before. He went on to say he was a recovering alcoholic and drug addict who had experienced several failed marriages, all of which were his fault. He said he blamed no one, that he had made bad choices and dumb decisions throughout most of his life. Then, with tears streaming down his face, he began to talk about his childhood and a dad who criticized and condemned him at every turn. He said, "You know, all I can remember about my childhood was my daddy saying things like, 'Boy you can't do anything right. Boy, you're just downright dumb. Boy, you will never grow up to amount to anything.'" He then added, "I guess I grew up to be exactly what my daddy said I would be."

90But then, with a gentle smile and a twinkle in his eye, he quietly and humbly whispered, "But 5 years ago, when I met Jesus, I got a new daddy. And this daddy loves me. He believes in me. He thinks I can do anything!"

In Christ, we do get a new daddy, a perfect daddy, a perfect heavenly Father. This Father longs for you to have a healthy heart and a clear conscience. And you can! Recall who you are in Him through Christ and by the Spirit. Love others as you have been loved by Him. Obey His commands and please Him out of "gospel gratitude" for who He is and what He has done. These are truths with the power to save. These are truths with the power to heal.

Reflect and Discuss