God Is Greater than Our Heart | 1 John 3:19-22

Lord's Day: May 4, 2025  Preacher: Carlos Montijo  Series: First John  Topic: Assurance  Scripture: 1 John 3:19–22; Proverbs 23:6–7; 2 Corinthians 5:1–4; Proverbs 3:5–7; Ephesians 3:20–21

¹⁹ And by this we will know that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him ²⁰ in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²² and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 1 John 3:19–22

I.  What Is the Heart?

• You need the right source and the right cause for the right effect to follow—God
• Proverbs 23:6–7: 6 Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, And do not desire his delicacies; 7 For as he calculates [thinks] in his soul [spirit/mind, H5315 נֶפֶשׁ nefesh], so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart [H3820 לֵב lev] is not with you.”
• NET Bible explains the Hebrew word lebab (Dt. 6:5): “Heb 'heart.' In OT physiology the heart was considered the seat of the mind or intellect, so that one could think with one's heart."59 Even the Greek word for "heart," kardia, used in Matt. 22, is translated as "mind" in other passages.”

II.  Verses 19-20

• Different possible ways of translating and consequently interpreting this difficult passage, but one typically makes the most sense, especially when taking into account the analogies of Scripture and of Faith—not just the immediate context, but the larger Biblical and doctrinal context as a systematic whole, and by rightly dividing, distinguishing the Word with the right tools—law and gospel distinction
• Gordon Clark: “Some readers may find all this complexity and analysis not so much lacking as useless and tedious. Remember, however, that we are dealing with God’s Word, and that sincere devotion consists not in the superficial reading of a chapter a day but in the very serious consideration of what God meant. What some people call devotion is simply a shirking of responsibility.”[1]

III. Verses 21-22

• Even though John’s letter deals with weighty doctrinal matters and big-picture contrasts, and sometimes assumes that the reader is already familiar with large portions of Scripture and its doctrines, he also leaves simple reminders of truths we should already know
• Even though our justification is fixed, final, unchangeable, our assurance is not
• 1689 London Baptist Confession 18.4: In various ways true believers may have their assurance of salvation shaken, diminished, or interrupted. This may be because of their negligence in preserving it,¹ or by falling into some particular sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit,² or by some sudden or forceful temptation,³ or by God withdrawing the light of his countenance and causing even those who fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light.⁴ Yet believers are never destitute of the seed of God⁵ and the life of faith, the love of Christ and the brethren, sincerity of heart and conscience of duty. Out of these things, this assurance may in due time be revived by the operation of the Spirit, and in the mean time they are preserved from utter despair.

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Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com

[1] Gordon H. Clark, First John, p. 114.