By This We Know

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Good morning, Christ Church.

My name is Stevie.

I'm part of the North Berkeley Community Group.

And this morning's scripture reading is from John's first epistle, chapter 3, verse 19 through chapter 4, verse 6.

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.

For 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 us.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

This is the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.

For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

We are from God.

Whoever knows God listens to us.

Whoever is not from God does not listen to us.

By this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to be God.

Thank you, Stevie, for that scripture reading.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Andrew.

I'm one of the pastors here.

It's good to be with you and to deliver God's word to you this morning.

Will you join me in prayer?

Lord, your word says to us here, whoever knows God listens.

Whoever is not from God does not listen.

But your Spirit has been given to us, the Spirit of truth, that we might discern the Spirit of error.

So would we listen closely to the Spirit this morning?

And would the Spirit speak so loudly to us, more loudly than any other spirit in this world, more loudly than any other voice?

And would we believe what the Spirit has to say to us?

Because this is the Spirit of Christ.

So would you be honored in the preaching of your word this morning, God?

And would you change us by your Spirit for your glory?

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

All right.

So if you are new, this is the 11th week of our lead pastor's long overdue and well-deserved sabbatical.

And so that means that this is my 11th Sunday solo pastoring as the assistant pastor.

And thanks to so many of you, especially our wonderful staff here.

Oh, okay.

I wasn't expecting that.

I don't think that was exactly deserved, but I'll take it.

But thanks especially to our amazing staff.

I'm happy to report that it hasn't been a disastrous 11 weeks.

It hasn't even been an unmanageable 11 weeks as I expected.

As far as I know, no one has deconverted, you know, from Christianity to Satanism.

So not bad, right?

Praise God for that.

But, you know, in the spirit of full disclosure, I still have to admit that even with plenty of support

and no major shipwrecks in this season, this sabbatical season, to no one's fault really,

this season has still managed to trigger within me my own personal and lifelong struggle with imposter syndrome.

You know, every Sunday I get up here, even before the sabbatical, but especially recently,

and every Sunday I get up here at night, I wonder if this is going to be the Sunday when I'm found out.

When I'm found out that I'm not supposed to be up here, that I have no business preaching

and being a pastor here and being a counselor and being a leader,

and it was all a huge mistake to ordain me a year ago and let me lead in this season because I'm not enough.

Because I'm not good enough morally, spiritually.

I'm not wise enough as a leader.

I'm not skilled enough as a preacher.

Because maybe I'm not responsible or disciplined or diligent enough to get better or to get better faster enough.

And so every, you know, B- sermon or worse, and I feel like there have been a lot of those,

every pastoral interaction that could have gone better,

after every visitor that doesn't return, every regrettable leadership decision,

every failure in my own life, in my own home, and in my neighborhood to practice what I preach,

to love my wife and my children, and to serve my community in the name of Jesus.

Every failure and less than perfect outcome often becomes for me an occasion in which my heart condemns me.

An occasion for that inner critic within me to say things like,

Andrew, you are not enough, and you're not doing enough,

and what you're doing, you're doing wrong, and everything that's gone wrong is all your fault.

And Andrew, if anyone knew who you truly were, they would know that you are a fraud,

and they too would condemn you.

And my heart condemns me, not just as a bad pastor, but also often as a bad husband,

and a bad dad, and a bad brother, and son, and friend, and colleague, and neighbor, and citizen.

Just this past week, we spent some time with my wife's side of the family,

and she has a brother, he's one of my best friends,

and they have a four-year-old girl, she's nine months older than my oldest, Cammie.

And we were hanging out with them, and this four-year-old girl,

she could read in Chinese and English.

She read the word butterflies to me.

She can ride a bike.

She was subtracting seven minus two equals five, man.

And so I went to bed that night,

and my heart condemned me.

I'm not just a bad pastor, I'm a bad parent.

I'm an awful parent.

And I wonder if you struggle with this too.

Maybe your own version of imposter syndrome,

or just plain old-fashioned guilt, shame, and regret.

Maybe your heart condemns you concerning all the things that you've done

that you ought not to have done.

Those words or those actions that you so wish that you could just take back.

Those wounding words that did not honor someone's vulnerability with you,

but exploited it.

That particular moment of weakness when you just gave in

to what you knew was a wicked desire that would be destructive

and have destructive consequences for you and for all those around you.

Maybe your heart condemns you over your shameful habits of self-medicating

with drugs, alcohol, porn, sex,

or maybe some other more culturally acceptable mode of consumerism.

Maybe for you it's just binge eating, or binge Netflix, or binge shopping.

Or maybe your heart condemns you for the things that you haven't done,

that you ought to have done,

for not loving your neighbor as yourself.

Maybe your heart condemns you for not actually caring that much

about what's going on in Ukraine,

or at our border with our Latin American refugees.

Maybe you don't care that much about our unhoused neighbors

under your freeways.

Maybe we don't care that much about these women

who have unwanted pregnancies,

or about these unborn children.

Or maybe your heart condemns you just for not loving God

with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,

for not committing to Him the time and the attention that He deserves.

As we open up God's Word,

and as we listen for His voice this morning,

I want to ask us all to consider this question,

what does your heart condemn you about?

What does your heart condemn you about?

And as we ask this question,

I hope we'll see how God would have us

to respond to the self-condemning hearts

that reside within each and every one of us.

Now I want to ask,

why do we even have self-condemning hearts in the first place?

Where did this burdensome affliction even come from?

Maybe you're here today and you're skeptical about God and Christianity

for this very reason.

You read, look with me at chapter 3, verse 19.

You read this first verse, verse 19.

By this we shall know that we are of the truth

and reassure our heart before Him.

And you're like, well that's why

so many of us struggle with self-condemnation.

It's because of this oppressive notion of God and truth

that have been externally imposed upon our society

by, you know, legalistic religious types of people.

These primitive religious boundaries

making insiders and outsiders

these arbitrary standards

employed as power plays to control people's lives.

And thus, maybe you are persuaded

that the remedy for self-condemnation

is actually freedom from God.

And really from every external source of alleged authority

outside of your internal self.

This is the conclusion that New York Times best-selling author

Glendon Doyle promoted in her book, Untamed.

In her memoir, she retells the various ways

that men and institutions and cultural norms

and even Sunday school teachers in her life

tried to tame her and to fit her into simplistic boxes.

But she says, I will not stay, not ever again,

in a room or conversation or relationship or institution

that requires me to abandon myself.

This life is mine alone,

so I have stopped asking people for directions

to places they've never been.

And that sounds pretty compelling, right?

It sounds pretty compelling.

Why allow myself to be tamed like a zoo animal

by other people and other institutions'

culturally constructed standards

when I was meant to be a free-roaming cheetah?

Cheetah.

Oh, that's the language she used.

She likes to call herself a cheetah.

And this is why so much of our, you know,

a modern secular psychology emphasizes the self-talk, right,

of positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy.

If we just practice positive self-talk,

rewire our brains and the stories that we tell ourselves,

if we just practice self-kindness

and speak positivity against the self-condemnation

that we've wrongly internalized from outside of us,

then we will discover and express our truest,

most authentic selves

and become invulnerable to all condemnation.

But may I ask,

is it really that simple?

Is it really that simple?

Can all our self-condemnation

really be extinguished

by even the largest dose of self-compassion?

And is all our self-condemnation

really just because we've all just foolishly,

you know, mindlessly accepted

arbitrary external standards imposed upon us

like passive, gullible, naive children?

Or might there be a grander,

more nuanced explanation

for the problem of self-condemnation

in all of our hearts?

So I want to suggest

that the grand narrative of Scripture

has a far more nuanced,

far more compelling story

of where self-condemnation comes from

and how to deal with it.

See, humanity was created in God's image

to flourish,

to confidently, before God,

be sons and daughters

in all the world,

making true and right evaluations

and judgments,

using our mind

to evaluate all that we've experienced,

thinking God's thoughts

about the world

and about ourselves.

But what happened,

what led to our self-condemning hearts,

is what the Bible calls sin.

That is people,

you and me,

and all the rest of humanity,

going our own way

apart from God,

walking in darkness

instead of light,

walking in death

instead of life,

walking in falsehood

instead of truth,

and this broke

our evaluative capacities

and our verdicts

became faulty

and we stopped thinking

like God

about Him

and about the world

and about ourselves.

Do you remember

what happened

when Adam and Eve

went their own way,

when they went

the serpent's way

rather than God's?

What happened?

They lost a sense

of who they were.

They lost a sense

of who they were.

They became entangled

in the lie of the serpent.

The serpent's lie

about who God was

and who they were

and who they could be.

They were no longer

of the truth

but complicit

with the serpent's lies

and so the assurance

of heart

that they once enjoyed

in the garden

when they went for walks

with God Himself

was gone

because of sin.

Because of their sin,

the presence of God

all of a sudden

became a threat, right?

An unsettling reality

in which they were

no longer sure

who they were

for they no longer

had the confidence

that children

ought to have

in the presence

of their father.

And it wasn't that

anything had changed

in God, right?

Nothing had changed

in God.

Even His love for them

did not wane

for one single second.

But because God

is light

and because in Him

there is no darkness

at all

and because they brought

darkness into the world,

this was the beginning

of all of our

self-condemning hearts.

Our hearts condemn us

because of sin.

See, because of sin,

three things happened.

First, our hearts

now condemn us

because there is

within each of us now

something truly worthy

of condemnation.

Our ultimate accuser

actually has a real case

against us now

because of our sin.

Think about it.

Would our self-condemning hearts

be so convincing,

so heavy,

so burdensome

if they were not

at least partially true?

Right?

And then secondly,

our hearts now condemn us

because we no longer see

like we used to

when we took our eyes

off of the light

of the world.

We lost our 2020 vision

and we no longer see

God,

the world,

or ourselves

rightly.

And thirdly,

to add to the confusion,

the introduction

of darkness

into the world

has resulted

in many evil spirits

and false prophets,

all these false voices

adding to the distortion.

That's why it says here,

that's why it talks here

in chapter four,

verse one about,

beloved,

do not believe every spirit,

but test the spirits

to see whether

they are from God.

For many false prophets

have gone out

into the world.

Verse three,

every spirit

that does not confess

Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit

of the Antichrist,

which you heard

was coming

and now is in the world

already.

See,

this is where

our self-condemning hearts

come from.

Our hearts condemn us

because of sin.

Sin in us

worth condemning

and sin clouding

our view of God

and ourselves

and sinful voices

outside of us

trying to persuade us

of falsehood.

Now let's talk about

how to deal

with this affliction,

this affliction

of self-condemnation.

How does God

want us to process

and engage

with these hearts

of ours

that condemn us?

Well look with me again

at verse 19.

By this we shall know

that we are of the truth

and reassure our heart

before him.

So first John

is saying that

the way to have assurance

and to be in God's truth

is this,

verse 20,

for whenever our hearts

condemn us,

God is greater

than our heart

and he knows everything.

I want you to notice

what first John

doesn't say.

Whereas modern

secular psychology

might tell us

to engage

in more positive

and affirming

self-talk

and self-compassion.

I'm not saying

that that's all bad

and that's all wrong

but I do want us

to notice that

first John

doesn't point us

there first.

It doesn't point us

to our own voice first.

First John

points us to who?

To God.

I mean think about it.

If your heart

condemns you

and your therapist

just tells you

to more mindfully

speak to yourself

alternative truths

about who you think

you are

in opposition

to what your heart

is saying about you,

it's still going to be

a battle.

It's still going to be

you against you,

your head against your heart

and in the worst case scenario,

this only perpetuates

the pitfalls

of self-expressive individualism

where you have to be

your own hero

because you belong

only to yourself

and you must bear

the crushing weight

of determining

your own identity

and your own destiny

and it's still on you

to talk back

to your already powerful

self-condemning heart

with words that you

have to come up with

yourself

and I don't know about you

but to me

this is not

a desirable scenario.

In this book

that I'm still

highly recommending

our elder Bill Barnes

read it,

he loved it,

he even contacted

the author,

I feel sorry for the author

because Bill Barnes

could talk a lot

but this is a great book

and I hope everyone

will get their hands on it,

it's called

You Are Not Your Own.

I'm going to advocate,

promote it all the time,

it's by Alan Noble

and this is what he says,

to be your own

and belong to yourself

means that the most

fundamental truth

about existence

is that you

are responsible

for your existence

and everything it entails.

No one else

has the right

to define me,

to choose my journey

in life

or to assure me

that I am okay,

I belong to myself

but the freedom

of sovereign individualism

comes at a great price.

Once I am liberated

from all social,

moral,

natural

and religious values,

I become responsible

for the meaning

of my own life

with no God

to judge

or justify me.

I have to be

my own judge

and redeemer.

This burden

manifests

as a desperate need

to justify our lives

through identity crafting

and expression

and Alan Noble,

he goes on

to talk about

how this has

contributed

to our crazy

competitive culture

where our very identities

and our senses

of worth

and meaning

and purpose

are on the line

based on our performances

in comparison

with one another

and so you wonder

why we all have

self-condemning hearts

because I look at

Instagram too much.

That's why.

I follow these

celebrity preachers

and I say,

I can never preach

like that guy.

I can never be a dad

like that guy.

That's why we have

self-condemning hearts.

We're comparing

with one another.

And so what I want

to ask us is,

is this the kind of life

we want to live?

Is this the kind of world

that we want to live in,

a world where we are

just our own?

And if so,

how will we ever escape

then the threat

of self-condemnation?

See, there is

no more fertile ground

for self-condemnation

to grow in

than in the soil

of which we are

just our own.

But see,

that's why verse 20 says,

for whenever our hearts

condemn us,

God.

God.

Whenever our hearts

condemn us,

God is greater

than our hearts

and he knows

everything.

Now, what does this mean

and how is it good news

for us

with our self-condemning hearts?

Because at first,

it kind of seems

like bad news, right?

Like, oh shoot,

God knows everything?

Everything I ever did?

Everything I ever

failed to do?

Man, I feel even

more condemned

in the presence

of God.

But see,

that's not the point

that 1 John

is trying to make.

When verse 20 says,

for whenever our hearts

condemn us,

God is greater

than our hearts

and he knows everything,

the point is actually

that it is not

about you.

God is greater

than your heart.

What this is saying

is that there is

a voice

that speaks

with infinitely

higher authority

than the voice

of your own heart.

And even when

your heart

is speaking things

that might very well

be true

about what you've done

or what you've not done,

God is greater

than your heart

and he knows everything.

And when it says

he knows everything,

it's not just saying

he knows everything

about you,

but it's saying,

yeah, sure,

he might know

everything about you,

but more importantly,

he also knows

everything about himself

and about his will

and about his ways.

And his will

is not to condemn us,

it's to redeem

his children.

And this is the gospel.

This is the gospel

that God's voice

speaks with more clarity

and more authority

than our self-condemning hearts.

So to all of us

who struggle

with a self-condemning heart,

God's word to us today

is,

child,

am I not greater

than your heart?

Beloved child,

am I not greater

than your heart?

Like, think about it.

A self-condemning heart,

it is not a sign

of humility before God.

It's just the opposite

side of the coin

to self-righteousness.

I recently read

a magazine article

by a professor

of biblical counseling,

and he told a story

from his childhood

about how he was,

you know,

a doughy,

bookish little boy

who was so embarrassed

and so ashamed

because he could never

measure up

to the lean,

athletic soccer gods

who graced the halls

of his junior high school.

And he told of

how one day

his self-dissatisfaction

just boiled over

one night

and he said something

out loud

that he'd only said

many times

just in his head.

He said,

I hate myself.

I hate myself.

Anyone here

mutter that to themselves?

Maybe not in those words,

but just in grunts

or maybe curses

under your breath

out of regret.

He said,

I hate myself.

And his mother,

always known

for her gentleness

and her care,

she responded

in a way

that he had not expected.

He expected pity

from her,

but what she gave him

was far better.

And with an unexpectedly

steely glance,

she looked at her son

who had just declared

his own self-hatred

and a deep offense

was clearly awoken

within her

as she sternly responded

to her self-loathing son,

you have no right.

You have no right.

See,

a self-condemning heart

that views itself

as bigger

and greater

and more authoritative

than God

who made us

and loves us

and plans to redeem

his beloved children,

a self-condemning heart

that is lowered

over my own identity

is an arrogant

and prideful heart

that is anti-Christ.

And it's also

the kind of heart

that not only judges

ourselves according

to our blurred vision

of reality,

but it ends up

leading us to compare

ourselves and judge

others and hold them

up to our faulty

standards too.

See, there is no good

news for anyone.

There is no hope

if God is not greater

than our hearts.

Or think about it

this way.

If God is not greater

than your heart,

then of course your heart

will condemn you forever.

If God cannot overcome

your heart's self-condemnation,

then what hope

is there for you?

Maybe you can't

forgive yourself

for whatever heinous,

hurtful,

unpardonable thing

that you've done.

Well, God says

that's the point.

You can't forgive yourself.

But I can.

Because I am greater

than your heart.

You have no right

to condemn yourself

or to forgive yourself.

But I have the right

to condemn you

and to forgive you.

And I choose forgiveness.

In fact,

I purchased it

on the cross.

And this is the amazing

news of the gospel.

That the one who is

greater than our hearts,

the one who is

greater than any voice,

the one with ultimate

authority to tell us

who we are

and whose we are

and whether or not

we have worth and value,

the one who knows

everything,

the one who knows

us to the bottom,

he loves us

to the heavens.

He who is greater

than our hearts

and knows everything

still does not

condemn us.

And this is the gospel.

The gospel says to us,

if God is willing

to forgive your sins

and to justify you

by the atoning blood

of his son,

you have no right

to self-condemnation.

You are a child of God.

You are a child of God.

And this is what

verses 21 to 22

are getting at.

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.

This is the kind

of confident

father-to-child relationship

he desires

to have with us.

Who is the only one

in the world

who could ask

the prime minister

to tie their shoelaces?

Their child.

See, the only way

our hearts

won't condemn us

is if we understand

that he is greater

than our hearts

and he knows everything

and that he knows us

not as enemies

to condemn

but as children

to commend.

The only cure

for a self-condemning heart

is to come

before God

with the confidence

and the faith

that we are known

by him

as his children

and we can ask him

anything

just happily

and trustingly

following the pleasing

way of our father

in heaven.

And this will not happen

apart from the presence

of God's spirit

in our lives

and that's why

verse 23 says

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 us.

And I wish I had more time

to unpack

and to talk about

the spirits

in chapter 4

verses 1 through 4

but let me just wrap up

by saying that there are

far more spirits

at work in this world

than we realize

influencing this world

in ways that we take

for granted

and are likely

oblivious to

influencing what we think

about God

and the world

and ourselves

but what's important

to know

is that the spirit

of God

is unlike any other spirit

for every other spirit

will only lead

to self-condemnation

but because the spirit

of God

is the spirit

of Jesus Christ

who came in the flesh

to put our condemnation

to death

on a cross

and rise from the grave

and ascend into heaven

in power and victory

both the condemnation

of our hearts

and the condemnation

of the devilish accuser himself

have been ultimately

overcome

by the God

who is greater

than our hearts

and also greater

than he

who is in the world.

And the application

question for us

is which spirit

will we listen to?

Which spirit

will we allow

to speak into

and inform

our heads

and our hearts?

Verse 5

They are from the world

therefore they speak

from the world

and the world

listens to them

we are from God.

Whoever knows God

listens to us

these apostles of Jesus

whoever is not from God

does not listen

to us.

By this we know

the spirit of truth

and the spirit

of error.

You see there is not

a single second

of our lives

that is lived

in neutral territory.

For those who have

eyes to see

there is a spiritual war

that is going on

a spirit of fear

and condemnation

that seeks

to envelop us

and swallow us up

and we must not

naively think

that we are unaffected.

The devil delights

in our self-condemnation

so we need

to be spiritually sober

and discerning

and guided

by God's words.

Just the other week

I went to

a spiritual director

for the very first time

I had no idea

what it was about

but I wanted to try it

because Jonathan

was really into it

and I just went in there

and I said

I just want to be

closer to God

and it was actually

a really good experience

helping me discern

what God was trying

to reveal to me

particularly

in my unique situation

and there was one question

that he kept asking me

returning to

I'd maybe say something like

you know

I think God wants me

to be a more intentional

more sacrificial father

but then he'd say

well that may be

objectively true

in general

but right now

in this moment

in this season

is that from you

or is that from God

or is that possibly

from another spirit

God's word today

invites us to consider

the words spoken

into our minds

and our hearts

by the spirits among us

and to listen

for the clear

pure

gracious voice

of God's spirit

who does not want

to condemn his children

but wants to reassure us

in his love

Christ Church

what are the words

we're allowing

to be spoken

into us

I'll end with this quote

from the great

20th century British

preacher Martin Lloyd-Jones

who suggests

that we don't just

listen to ourselves

but that we draw

upon the scriptures

the very words

that God has given us

these words that maybe

we've read

and memorized

and meditated upon

and then we use

those words

the very words of God

to talk to ourselves

right

to speak back

against our self

condemning hearts

and the condemnations

of all the spirits

who are at war

against us

this is what Lloyd-Jones

says

the main trouble

in this whole matter

of spiritual depression

in a sense is this

that we allow ourself

to talk to us

instead of talking

to ourself

am I just trying

to be deliberately

paradoxical

far from it

this is the very essence

of wisdom

in this matter

have you realized

that most of your

unhappiness in life

is due to the fact

that you are listening

to yourself

instead of talking

to yourself

take those thoughts

that come to you

the moment you wake up

in the morning

you have not originated them

but they start talking

to you

they bring back

the problems

of yesterday

somebody is talking

who is talking to you

yourself is talking

to you

the main art

in the matter

of spiritual living

is to know

how to handle yourself

you have to address yourself

preach to yourself

question yourself

you must say to your soul

why art thou

cast down

and say to yourself

hope thou in God

instead of muttering

in this depressed

unhappy way

and then you must go on

to remind yourself

of God

who God is

and what God is

and what God has done

and what God has pledged

himself to do

then having done that

end on this great note

defy yourself

and defy other people

and defy the devil

and the whole world

and say with the psalmist

I shall yet praise him

who is my God

when God is greater

than our heart

when our hearts

condemn us

Christ church

God is greater

than our hearts

God is greater

than our hearts

that's his word to us

would we let him

speak that into our lives

we meditate on that

and live

like he's greater

than our hearts

will you pray with me

and then God

and what's Your love

is sir

stuen

thank you

for His God

and His love

will you be

as if I can

let him

say

I can't

say

James

that's her

thing

will you

nak

or

you

I can

tell

the

song

is

and

email

free

to

your

YouTube

and

acağız

and

and