IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US NOT
1 John 3:21-23
Who can stand before God uncondemned or without
condemnation? No one. However, we can keep the slate clean, I John 1:9 and
James 5:16. John says in 1John 3:21 “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. (v.22)
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and
do those things that are pleasing in his sight. (v.23) And this is his
commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and
love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
The first clause is conditional “if our heart” letting us see
immediately that there is a qualifying condition. I believe that every promise
of God is conditional except salvation. And this promise rests upon one very
important condition, our position before God. If our heart does not condemn us
before God then we can have confidence toward God. Do you want to be able to
pray and have confidence that God is hearing you (Psalm 66:18)? Do want to go
through your day and have the confidence that God is looking at you with divine
love and not judgment (Heb. 12:5-8)? Our eternal position before God is settled
forever, Romans 5:1,2,8 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (v.2) By whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (v.8)
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. (Please read all of chapter 5, time and space restrict me.)
However, our daily position before God is affected by our obedience to our
Lord. When we sin it breaks the path of our prayer, “If I regard iniquity (sin)
in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,” Psalm 66:18.
So then, how important is a clean slate? Look again at our opening
verses. “Whatsoever we ask” is the biggest blanket statement you could hope
for. Certainly some restrictions apply as found in other passages. But the
general idea is simple. We can have all of the mercy, the power, the grace and
the supply of heaven every hour of every day all through our lives if we simply
keep one condition, if “we keep His commandments.” God wants to meet our needs
and answer our prayers, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I
do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son,” John 14:13. Intervening in
our lives, coming to our aid and blessing us glorifies God the Father in His
Son. How that occurs is a question I will never be able to answer this side of
Heaven. But as you have just read, God is glorified when he blesses us.
So then, if blessing us glorifies Him, how much will He want to bless
us? The only thing preventing God’s daily, complete and abundant blessing, is
simply our failure to keep His commandment. Then it must be one big
commandment, one really tough area of our life if we cannot seem to get victory
over it and receive God’s daily blessing. I don’t think I will need to explain
it really. I trust you will read the command of God as I reproduce it below. And
after you read it think about it. Just meditate on this concept for a while. It
really is earth shattering. But only because it is so simple. And we manage to
miss the full blessing of God on our lives because we just can’t seem to do the
simplest of all commands.
First, confess our sin daily and come to God with a clean heart in
order to keep the prayer door open. And then, what is the second condition,
what is it that we are leaving undone? What is the commandment we are told to
keep in verse 23? “…Believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one
another, as he gave us commandment”
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