1 John 3:19-20 • Your heart keeps reading the verdict. Your conscience won't stop the case. But the court you're arguing in isn't the highest one.

⛪ Preached at Pilgrim Baptist Church • Cookeville, TN • May 7, 2026.

Your conscience is a real court — but it's a lower court. It has real jurisdiction, but not final jurisdiction. There is a higher bench. There is a higher judge. And the God who sits on that bench doesn't only know what you've done — He knows what He's committed to do.

John is writing to the sensitive saint. Not the man at peace with his sin. The man losing sleep. The woman whose conscience is awake. The believer who loves God enough to be genuinely troubled by the gap between what he knows he should be and what he finds himself to be.

This sermon from 1 John 3:19-20 shows you how to stop arguing in the wrong courtroom and appeal to the verdict that cannot be overturned.

This exposition walks through 1 John 3:19-20, explaining:

• Why the condemning heart is a problem John addresses directly — not dismisses

• What "assure" means and why John chose a word that implies resistance

• How God being "greater than your heart" is pastoral theology, not just comfort

• The difference between Holy Spirit conviction and enemy accusation

• Why "He knoweth all things" is your defense, not your threat

• How Adam's hiding instinct mirrors the believer who runs from God when most ashamed

• What the appeal actually looks like in practice

• Why this is a daily returning — not a one-time arrival

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