1st John 2:28-29; 3:1-9
“And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear,
we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at
his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know
that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him” (1
John 2:28-29). “Behold, what manner love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons
of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it
knew him not. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And
every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,
even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to
take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not
seen him, neither known him. Little
children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous. He
that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth
from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth
in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1
John 3:1-9).
“Let’s
again say a word of prayer and we’ll get started. I’d
like to just welcome quickly the folks that are new. It’s
a pleasure to have you with us. And
if you’re new today, you’re welcome to fill out
a little card. There’s cards in the back of the
seats, in many of the instances, there’s cards you
can fill out and place them in the Agape boxes which are
those wooden boxes at the back of the sanctuary. Just a way to let us know you’re
here and if there’s any way we can serve you. Well,
let’s say a word of prayer. ‘Lord
I thank you that we can look at these Scriptures this morning,
that we can consider your truth and love. Of
course, Lord, as we’ve been in 1st John
and the apostle John, this apostle of love has been speaking
to our hearts, the Holy Spirit ultimately speaking to our
hearts as he writes this letter, there’s so many things
that he says so matter of factly. He
gets right to the point, and doesn’t mess around at
all. But I pray
Lord God for all of us that gather here on Sunday mornings,
for those of us listening in, that our time going through
1st John wouldn’t be in vain, it wouldn’t
be futile. But
truly we would have hearts that want to consider these things
and want to really know what you think, Lord, about our own
personal lives, that we would have hearts that truly want
to change. There’s
so many reasons, so many reasons that John gives us for living
for Christ, for living holy lives, for pleasing you and obeying
you and glorifying you in our lives. There’s
so many reasons to live otherwise, it’s such a great
concern. So I ask you Holy Spirit just very simply
right now we just open our hearts to you and ask that you’d
be upon all of us as we go through your Scriptures, and that
you’d be upon myself as I just share your Word. In
Jesus’
name, Amen.’ Let’s begin with verse 28 of chapter
2 in 1st John. That
is where we left off last week, as we’ve just been
going through the Epistle of 1st John verse by
verse.
Having confidence, the holy life
So we pick up with verse 28 of 1st John. “And
now little children, abide in him that when he appears
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at
his coming.” If
I was bold I’d try to sing you a song, but I’m
not bold, I don’t want to ruin the service. But
this Scripture, when I was in high school, senior year,
I went with a youth group out of Kennebunk Maine, I went
with a youth group to Belize, and we stayed in the jungle
for about a month or so outside of the capital city that
they were then building in Belize, the city of Belmopan. We
spent some time with the Y-whammer’s, Youth With
A Mission, at their discipleship training school. And
during the day we would work on building bathrooms or clearing
jungle or just different preparations for this discipleship
training school. Maybe
going sight-seeing at times to a very beautiful area we
were in. But then at night, just about every night
I think we would have a service, and there’d be forty
or fifty people in the jungle there in Belize, Christians,
gathered together. We’d go in the canteen and we would
spent time in Bible study and spend time worshipping the
Lord. And for most of us from Maine that went
down there, the songs that we learned during that time
that the Y-whammers led us in were songs we had never heard. And
one of the songs was exactly the words that you have here,
they were the King James rendering of this verse, verse
28. But we
were just taught a little tune where we sung these very
words to the Lord. And
I think this would be great to teach you this song, again,
if I was bold enough, because this is, you know, when you
have a song you remember the words, if you sing it often
enough. You know, like the people of Israel, God
encouraged the people of Israel, in fact, there in Deuteronomy
he gave them a song to sing, he says ‘I’m giving
you this song, so that in the future when you’re
singing these words it would start to sink in. You know, you’re in a certain position,
and you are, because listen to the words I’ve taught
you, years ago. You’re singing them, and it’s
going to sink in.’ And
this truth that John shares here is so important, it is
so vital for you and I. You know, he says, he uses the word here “when”,
he doesn’t use the word “if”, he uses
the word “when” referring to the appearing
of Jesus Christ, when Jesus comes back for his bride, it’s
something that’s assuredly going to happen, it isn’t
an “if”, it’s a “when”. It’s a day on God’s calendar. It’d be great if we had the ability
to put that day on our own calendar, if we all could say “Yes,
March 3rd, 2005, that’s the day, man.” And
just imagine as we got closer to that day, the way we’d
be living.
But Jesus hasn’t
told us the day, and the reason why is that we would just
walk out the whole calendar and say “any of those days,
any of those days.” It’s
not a matter of “if” it’s a matter of “when”. Now John, as he’s been writing to
us, he uses certain patterns, and he continues to do that. He
has, as we see here, some strong exhortations, and then as
we’ll see before we get done with this study, he follows
with words of encouragement and words of comfort. He
doesn’t want to discourage anybody, he just wants to
encourage us. And he begins here in verse 28 with that
word technia, that
word he used in chapter 2, verse 1, and in chapter 2, verse
12, that word there “little children”, he uses
it again, just a very endearing term like a Grandpa to his
grandkids. And he uses this term here to just denote
in his encouragement to us, but also, he’s saying here
when he uses that term, because he uses another word for
children earlier, a different term. But the word here means essentially, “belonging
to a family by virtue of birth.” So
you’re a child because you’ve been born into
a certain family and you’re related now to mom and
dad because you’re a part of a certain family through
birth. And I
say that, because in verses 28 and 29, especially verse 29,
John now begins to make a change, a transition in his emphasis. Before
this, he’s been emphasizing this element of fellowship,
the need for you and I to be in fellowship with God. He’s
told us a lot about what fellowship means, and how God is
light, and if I’m in darkness how can I be in true
fellowship with God. He’s
told us about the result of fellowship in our lives, and
the great need to be close to the Lord. Of
course, as Christians that’s the desire of our hearts. Now
he begins to change, he talks about fellowship here a little
bit more later, but he starts to change in focus now on what
it means to be “born-again.” It’s
a real experience. And
there’s real fruit to being born-again, there’s
a real result in our lives. There’s things that should be very
clearly evident in our lives if we are born again. There’s
a life that goes with being born-again, and he’s going
to talk to us about that. And
of course, as he goes on, man, he can maybe rattle some cages,
maybe makes us squirm a little bit. He
throws words of comfort in there, but man he just says ‘This
is like it is.’ And I pray that we have hearts to hear
what God would indeed have to say to us. We
will see, as he talks about this element of being born-again,
being born into the family of God, being a child of God,
that one of the greatest results, and this he’ll just
repeatedly say, is that when I became a child of God there’s
now something that’s happened to me, and I should begin
to change. It’s a changed life, man. It’s a different life. That’s what he begins to really
focus on, it’s a life that grows in holiness, it’s
a life that becomes more and more like the life of Jesus
Christ. Just
as children as they grow they become more like their parents. People tell me my son, they say “Your
son, he’s a little like you, man, he’s got those
gestures.” People have told me “When I look
at him, it’s like a little you, you know.” And
it’s true, you can pick out peoples kids and parents. And that’s what he’s saying,
if you’re a child of God, that it’s a changed
life. You should be becoming more and more like
Jesus, people should see more and more of Jesus in you. Well, as he focuses on this, really you
could summarize it with that word “holy life”. And
as we started this year, you know, I gave a study, I said “One
of the things that really is on my heart for this year is ‘holiness
in my own life, holiness in the church.’ And
I’ll be honest with you, I continued to be burdened
for that, in my own life, but also in the church, in the
church, holiness. [I
highly recommend Dr. Michael L. Brown’s book Go and Sin No More, A Call To Holiness, available at http://www.amazon.com . But get them while you can, as I think
the book is out of print.] Holiness,
holiness, man, it’s what it’s about, becoming
more like Jesus. It’s about living and walking with
him, and people being able to look at me and say ‘Man,
that guy knows the Lord. And so, he focuses on this subject, you
could say of holiness. And
here in verse 28 he already makes a significant point, notes
a significant difference between someone whose living a holy
life and somebody who isn’t, somebody whose living
a carnal life. And
the difference he says, is going to be seen especially not
too long in the future, this day he refers to, when Jesus
comes back for his bride, when Jesus comes back for the church. John
says that when those who are presently abiding in Christ,
on that day they will have confidence when they stand before
Jesus, when that moment happens. But those who are not abiding in Christ,
he says they will ashamed on that day, they will be ashamed. Later we’ll see in chapter 3, verse
6 when he talks about “abiding”, again that communion,
that fellowship, he says that abiding in Christ will also
result in a person not sinning, not practicing sin. It
will result in a person not sinning, not practicing sin,
it will result in a holy life. So, abiding in Christ here, goes hand
in hand with the holy life, so here he says a holy life,
living a holy life when Jesus returns it will result in a
confidence, an excitement---“yes, Jesus, you’re
here, I can’t believe it! This
is what I have been living for.” But
then on the other hand, if I’m not living a holy life,
when Jesus returns. He says this, he indicates there’s
the potential of being ashamed on that day, at that moment. Just
imagine hearing those trumpets, you know it’s been
told, there’s an hour where those trumpets are going
to blast, hearing those trumpets. There’s something about those trumpets,
there’s something in me, a born-again believer in Jesus
Christ, that it’s going to start something, and I’m
going to know that moment has happened, it’s here. I’m
about to stand before Jesus Christ. There
will be this realization coming over me at that very instant,
that very moment, that Jesus is returning to call me to be
home with him. But
just imagine, that moment has hit you, and you got your TV
clicker in your hand, and in the VCR is this video that you
rented, that you wish you hadn’t rented it at that
moment, you know what I mean. And
in fact you’re going to be wishing that you had enough
time, but you won’t because it happens in the twinkling
of an eye, but you’re going to be wishing you could
jump up and go “Eject!”, get that outa there. But it’s going to go ‘Boom’ and
it’s going to continue to play, last memorial to your
life, this video playing, just imagine. [cf.
1 Corinthians 15, http://www.unityinchrist.com/corinthians/cor15-16.htm.] Just
imagine what your thoughts might be for that moment when
you stand before Jesus Christ. Or maybe you were seated at your computer,
just imagine there might be some Christian seated at the
computer, logged in, and they’re at some website they
wished they weren’t, and their account stays logged
in, as a last statement. Boy,
just think of what will be going through your head. Or you’re in your bed, you know
what happens at night, and as it’s happening, you know
at that moment there is somebody lying next to you that isn’t
your spouse. Just
imagine. He says
these kinds of things, you know, that there would be a sense
of “Oh man, Oh man”, a sense of shame. Or
that whiskey bottle you had bought the day before, smashes
to the ground. You
had it in your hand, you know, and it crashes on the ground. Again, a statement about where you were
at that moment. Or
there is in the Filenes parking lot, a large deposit of expensive
clothes sitting there in the parking lot, or partly crammed
into your closet, and you knew it wouldn’t fit into
your closet anyway, but you’re in there trying to cram
all this stuff. You bring it home, and boom, you’re
gone. And there’s
the memorial, that’s what you were doing as you left
this world and went to be with the Lord. Just image. Would
you stand confident before Jesus? I
would say at that moment you would stand in a sense of shame
before the Lord. Or
think of what it would be like standing before Jesus, and
maybe you weren’t in the middle of anything, but in
overall you have very little to show for your Christian life. Been a Christian for 17 years, and you
have very little to show for it. The
Bible teaches that when Christ returns we will then stand
before the judgment seat of Christ to be rewarded based upon
our faithfulness, upon our works. [i.e. we’re not saved by works,
but we are rewarded for them.] Paul
wrote to the church at Corinth, 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present
or absent, to be well-pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done
in the body according to what he has done, whether good or
bad.” There
is a reward ceremony when we get there. And you have very little to show of your
Christian life, you didn’t live for Jesus, and so now
in the reward ceremony, you don’t make out very well. That
could be a shameful experience. Just
imagine, I mean, he indicates the potential for shame. I
was a Christian for a long time, I didn’t live for
Jesus, and now I’m in heaven [or the kingdom of heaven],
is it possible that you can strike up conversations about
your previous life? Oh,
that would be a bummer, man, if you didn’t live for
Jesus. I mean, years later, somebody asks, and
you’re at the New Jerusalem, leaning against one of
the gates, and somebody says “You know, tell me a little
bit about your previous life, man. And what did you do for the Lord?” And you have to answer that question again. “Oh,
man, you know.” And the other will say “Well, I
guess you weren’t a believer very long.” And
you say “No, I was a believer for 20 years, man. And
I know, look at where we are. I
wish I’d have clued in.” That’s
why he says this here. That’s
why it’s a great song to sing, you know, you want to
put your own beat to it, make up your own little tune and
sing it. It’s
a great song, “There is a time, not long from now,
and it’s not an if, it’s a when, we’ll
be standing before Jesus Christ. And
are we going to be ashamed, or are we going to be confident?” So, he gives us good reason, man, good
reason to live right, to life a holy life. That’s
for sure, this is a good reason.
Verse 29, “If you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born
of God.” [King
James, “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know
that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”] So
now he says, living a holy life, not only is it going to
give me greater confidence later when I stand before Jesus
Christ, but here in this verse, he also alludes to it giving
me a greater confidence and assurance now, presently, that
I am indeed a child of God. He
says that if you know that he is righteous, then you know,
I mean Jesus lives a certain way, Jesus is a certain way,
his life. And
when I see Jesus in other people, I know that they’re
children of God. And when I see Jesus in me I know that
I’m a child of God, meaning righteousness, his life,
his ways. So, as I noted earlier in verse 29 here,
he refers to being born of him. He’s
now focusing on what it means, he’s making that transition
to what it means to be a child of God, what it means to
be born-again, born of God [by God placing his Holy Spirit
within a person]. And
it means that just as I understand that Jesus is holy,
that he is righteous, I also know that those who are living
like Jesus Christ, living holy lives, practicing righteousness,
that they are indeed children of God, that includes myself. Now
when he says “know” here, the first time, he
says it twice, “If you know that he is righteous…” That word is that intuitive “know”,
that intuitive sense of knowing, the Greek word oeda. So intuitively. I mean, I’ve never seen Jesus physically,
but as I study his Word, there’s a sense, the Spirit
bears witness with my spirit [cf. Romans 8:15-16] that
God is holy, that God is perfect, there’s this understanding
that I have. It’s
an intuitive thing. So,
we intuitively know. But
then John refers to a person practicing righteousness,
when he says that “we know that everyone who
practices righteousness…” he uses the word ginosko. I mean, I know intuitively that God is
righteous, but then through experience, through looking
at your life, examining your fruit, I now know that you’re
a born-again believer. There’s evidence, is what he says,
through experience. Somebody
practicing righteousness, clearly they’re born of
God. So John
is letting us know very clearly, and he’ll make this
point repeatedly, you can tell when a person is a Christian,
I mean, it’s that simple. You
can tell that they are a Christian. If
you cannot tell that they’re a Christian, if you
cannot see changes in their life, then the question is,
are they really a Christian? When
I see someone who professes to be a believer in Jesus Christ,
and they do not practice righteousness, they do not live
his way, then I reason
“They must not be born-again. For
if they were, they’d be living differently. Man,
that would be, you know, if I had more boldness, I was studying
this, thinking, ‘I should just have more boldness.’ When
people come into my office, or I see people in the church,
and they’re clearly living contrary to the lifestyle
of the Lord, just to say to them “Maybe you’re
not born-again, because you are living in a lifestyle contrary
to the way of God, and if you can honestly do that, there’s
a real problem here.” John says if you’re doing that,
and we’ll go on, he says ‘You must not be born-again. You
must not really be born of God. There
isn’t change in your life.’ I
guess that would be pretty bold to say. I’m sure that would get some people
upset, make ‘em think. But
I probably should try it more. You
come in and say ‘I’ve been living like this for
a long time, I can’t change.’ And I’ll say ‘Maybe you’re
not a Christian.’ That’s
what the Bible says. Maybe
you’re not. There’s a story of a lady who was
a Sunday school teacher, I read it in the commentary yesterday,
and she was teaching this Sunday school class in a Christian
church and it just wasn’t going well, there was strife,
there were issues, the staff of the church met with her,
pastor met with her, didn’t resolve the issues, it
continued. Then one Sunday morning the pastor gave
an altar call and don’t you know, here comes this Sunday
school teacher. And after that, it settled the issues,
the lady wasn’t born-again. She
wasn’t really a child of God. But
when she became a Christian things changed in the class,
because it’s a changed life. That’s
what John is saying to you and I. When
I see Jesus in a person, then I can start to understand and
say ‘Yeah, man, that person knows the Lord, I see Jesus
in him, clearly born-again.’ Maybe
you’ve had the experience, you’re at work, maybe
interacting with somebody, maybe in your community, the neighborhood,
maybe it’s a classroom setting, you interact with somebody. You
don’t really know them that well, don’t know
anything about their life, but for whatever reason, maybe
you’ve been putting a meeting together for awhile,
and you’re getting to know each other a little bit,
and you start to pick up on things. The
way they’re treating people, and the way they’re
controlling themselves, and really choosing their words. And
there’s just a way to them. And
you start to think, ‘I think they’re a Christian.’ I
think that person’s a Christian. So,
when the moment comes, you say, “Hey, are you a Christian?” He says “Yeah, I’m a Christian.” “Oh you too? Oh
wow, praise the Lord.” And
you talk about the churches you go to, the ministry you’re
involved in. But there’s something you saw in
them. You say, ‘They’re a Christian,
I could tell by the way they’re acting. I
could tell by the things they were saying, the way they were
treating people.’ But then, sadly, many of you have had
the experience too where you’ve known somebody, interacted
with them a little bit, and based on that interaction, and
the way you’ve seen them, later you learn they profess
to be a believer, and you’re shocked, like ‘They’re
a believer?’ ‘Oh my, the way they treated me. The way they treat their neighbor, the
way they act in our neighborhood, the places they go---they’re
a believer in Jesus Christ? Really?’ You’ve had those experiences, I’m
sure. But maybe there’s somebody you’ve
worked with and you’ve worked with them forever, decades,
and then one day you learn that he’s a believer, and
you’re like “Why didn’t I know before? Nice guy, but just didn’t pick up
on it before.” I
would say that says something about that person’s walk
with Christ, based
upon what John is saying here. John
says, holiness, man, it’s important. And one thing about it is, it gives me
a confidence later. It
will give me a confidence when I stand before Jesus Christ. A
lack of it will mean I’ll be ashamed. But
holiness today in my life, growing in holiness, becoming
more like Jesus, gives me an assurance in my own life today
that I am a born-again believer. If
it lacks, it’s not there, then maybe I don’t
know Jesus.
1st John 3
children of God
Chapter 3, verses 1-3, “Behold, what manner of love the Father
has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of
God: therefore the world does not know us, because it did
not know him. Beloved,
now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed
what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And
everyone who has this hope in
him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” Now,
John is great. Right? Boom! Gives
us a good, Uh! Made
us think, made us squirm a little. But
now he comes right back with just tender words of comfort,
and words of encouragement. He
doesn’t want to discourage us, he wants to encourage
us. Now this
encouragement his gives involves a reminder to us of the
incredible, the marvelous, the infinite love of God, the
infinite love that the Father has, our heavenly Father
has towards his children, towards his kids. But
also his encouragement includes this mind-boggling, impossible
to fully comprehend gift and privilege that I have as a
born-again believer in Jesus Christ, that I’ve actually
become a child of God. I’m
actually God’s child. Now
when somebody is a child of somebody else, they occupy
a unique and a special place in that person’s life. I’ve
heard it before, and I’ve experienced it now through
three of my kids. You
know you hear people say, “My kids, man, my kids,
man if something were to happen to my kids. You
know, my kids, they just occupy a place in my heart.” You
know, as a father now of three children, I know what that
means. It’s my kids, man. My kids, you know, and they just mean
so much to me. I
mean, when one of my kids are sad, it really effects me. When
they struggle it really effects me. When
one of them is physically hurt, I can hear them crying,
it has a certain effect upon me, because
they’re my kids. I think of my son, you know, he’s
a boy, he’s got lots of energy, likes to play sports
and things, he’s only six, and the kids in the neighborhood
are all older than he is by a few years. So we, my wife and I, we have to kind
of keep an eye out for him, because he’s a little
guy compared to them. He likes to play with bigger kids, but
sometimes as it is, bigger kids like to pick on little
kids. So they’ll start to pick on my son,
or they’ll be unfair with my son, he’s only
six. And every
time, you know I have to pray for the self-control of the
Holy Spirit. I
realize this kid is only 9, [laughter] but I’m about
to send that kid into outer-space, you know. [laugher] I
can see he’s hurting and mistreating my son. And that’s really bothersome. In fact, my father-in-law’s been
with us, he’s been in Pennsylvania for the weekend
and coming back tomorrow, and they’ll be with us
a little longer, but he was outside the other day, and
I was outside, and heard the kids going at it again with
my son. Then I heard my father-in-law, whose a
granddad now, I heard him, you know, he’s not a pastor,
so he could do this [laughter], but he just let those kids
have it, man, he just had a few things to say. So he says, he says you are, as a born-again
believer, a child of God. You
are his son or his daughter. You
are God’s kid. And
God has a tremendous amount of love. His
heart is full of love, he’s the God of infinite love. And
if I love my kids the way I do, just imagine how he loves
his kids, man, he loves his kids in a way that’s
amazing. Now
he uses the word child here, children, on purpose I believe. Many commentators would say this, he doesn’t
use the word son, but child, children. And
there is potentially a difference in those two words, they
can convey a slightly different meaning. The
word son emphasizes the legal external relationship, while
the word child emphasizes that there’s a common nature. That
the child is derived from the parent, and shares the nature
of the parent. So
when he says child, he’s also saying that here as
he goes on here to that, I become a child of God, there’s
this nature that I have, just as you can look at my kids
and tell who their parents are to a degree, I have this
nature now of God, this nature of Jesus Christ in me. So
he is reminding us as Christians, incredibly, we share
the very life of God, the very life of God. And
this is what Peter said in his 2nd Epistle,
chapter 1, verse 4, “By which have been given to
us exceedingly great and precious promise, that through
these you may be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust.” It’s
happened when I became born-again. I
became a child of God, and now I partake in his divine
nature. There’s something that’s happened
to me. So then with that, in taking this point
a little bit further, as one writer has put it, when an
unbeliever sins he or she as a creature sins against their
Creator. But
when a Christian sins he or she as a child is sinning against
their Father. So
it is different as a Christian when I sin, I sin against
my Dad. I sin against my Father. The unbeliever sins against the Law, but
the believer sins against Love. He
loves me, and I’ve done this against him? I’ve
not respected him, I’ve not listened to him? Of
course a child, it’s natural for a child to want
to please their parents, to want to please mom and dad,
to have their approval. That’s very natural. I believe that God has designed it that
way, and therefore when a child knows that they are displeasing
to their parent, there’s a grief that goes on in
their life. It’s
difficult for them. And
if that pattern continues, if there’s a child for
a long time that knows they’re displeasing to their
parent, that really can effect that individual, even into
their adult years. I
think of one of the relatives of my family, they have the
worst relationship with their dad, their dad had very little
good to say about them. And
today if you were to meet that relative of mine, you would
probably pretty quickly notice that they are always trying
to get attention, because it effected them. Dad
wasn’t happy with them, was displeased with them,
verbally said it a lot. Today they struggle with that. And even as an adult. It’s important, it’s something
about a child that we want to please our parents, we want
to have their approval. I know of stories of people who are adults,
today I think of one husband and wife, came in for counseling
and the marriage is struggling. And
the wife says, ‘You know, the reason why we’re
struggling here is this guy doesn’t spend any time
with me, he’s always busy about his work, work, work,
work. He doesn’t sleep, he just works. So as the counselor tried to discern,
why did this guy work so much. As
they spent time together, he began to learn that this man,
he knew it was in the back of his conscience, he knew he
was struggling with it, but his dad said years earlier
when he was with him ‘You’re not going to amount
to anything.’ And because of that, he was so overdriven
to achieve, even as an adult, to get his dad’s approval. It dominated his life, it effected his
life, it hurt other people’s lives, it hurt his wife’s
life. So there is this thing about a real child,
a real child wants to please dad. A
real child doesn’t want to disappoint a loving father,
and now even more, as a Christian I have a loving heavenly
Father, it is only natural, it is only reasonable that
I would want to please my Father. If I don’t, if that’s not
a concern to me, if that’s not a passion to me, if
that’s not the thing that moves me, then I’ve
got to sit here this morning and go “I’m I
really a child of God?” Because a child of God wants to please
their Dad, wants to please their Father. And
if it’s not in me, then there’s something wrong,
there’s something vitally wrong. You
could potentially be here and not be born-again, nothing
against you, just trying to say you need to be born-again,
you need Christ in your life. But
to have him, to have him means ‘I want to please
my Dad, and I don’t disappoint him, he’s so
loving to me, I don’t want to disappoint him. Now he says this word “bestowed” [verse
1]. There’s
a lot to that verb, bestowed on us his love, he bestowed
on us. Ah man,
there’s a lot to that word. In
fact, some commentators see in it more than just a sense
that he loves me, but in that word he has, there’s
the sense that he has “put his love in me”, “he
has infused me, he has injected me with his love”,
he has “bestowed his love in my heart.” Paul
said in Romans “It is love now he has shed abroad
in my heart.” What
are you doing when the love of God is shed abroad in your
heart? Where
are you going, what are you visiting, what are you watching
when the love of God is shed abroad in your heart? Well,
he has “bestowed” his love upon me. He
goes a little bit further. You know, we as a children of God, we
have this new nature. Of
course we want to please him. But
then he says in the end of verse
1, “therefore the world does not know us, because
it did not know him.” Sometimes
when you’re a non-Christian you may hear these things,
maybe you’ve been in church forever, but you just
don’t see it. And that’s what he’s saying
here, the world didn’t know Jesus, didn’t recognize
him, he was there but they didn’t recognize him. So
as a non-believer, this doesn’t connect with them. If
they look at me as a born-again believer, they’ll
hear me say these things, and they’ll say ‘Yeah,
OK, but I don’t know, just really? Jesus
is in you?’ They
don’t know it. They can’t connect, that’s
consistent with the Scriptures because Paul said in 1st Corinthians
chapter 2, verse 14, “But the natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned.” So,
they did not know Jesus, and therefore the world does not
realize and know this about me either.
We will be like Christ when we
see him
Now verse
2, “Beloved, we are now children of God,” so
he’s not pounding on his audience, he’s letting
them know ‘OK, I’m writing to the Church, by
and large you are born-again, so now we are children of
God, he loves us, he’s bestowed his love upon us,
and then he refers to this future time. He says, “it
has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know
that when he is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is.” So he says that word know there again, meaning intuitively, I understand, I discern, that
some day, I don’t know exactly what it’s going
to be like, what exactly it’s going to look like,
what it all means, but someday I understand, I discern
that when Jesus comes I’m going to stand before him,
and I’m going to be like him. I’m
going to be perfected like him, I’m going to become
the whole deal. You
know Paul says that God has begun a good work in me, and
he’s going to continue it until it’s complete,
and it will be completed that day, meaning, I don’t
know exactly what it all means, but I know what he’s
like, I have a discernment, and understanding about what
he’s like, don’t know it fully, but I have
a sense, and I know that when he is revealed I shall be
like him, for I will see him as he is. David
had that understanding. David
had said in Psalm 17, verse 15, “As for me, I will
see your face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied
when I awake in your likeness.” Man,
he looked forward to that. He
wanted that time, where he would be with God, see him for
what he is, and then become like that himself, in the sense
of perfected, no longer struggling with the carnal things
of life. [Also,
remember, when John wrote this, he had not seen the glorified
Jesus Christ. But
in vision on the Isle of Patmos, he did see the glorified
Jesus Christ, his face glowing bright as the sun. That
is quite similar to the glorified bodies we shall receive
in the 1st resurrection to immortality. That is also what this verse means. To see what we shall be like in our glorified
state, read Revelation 1:13-18. In
Daniel 12:1-3 it says we shall shine as the stars of the
heavens.]
So
then, one step further, verse
3, “And everyone who has this hope in him purifies
himself, just as he is pure.” He says, as a child of God there’s
hope, there’s a hope that yes, you’re changing,
but that when you’re completely changed you’re
going to be like Jesus one day. And
if you really have that hope, if that really is in your heart,
then obviously today, you’re going to seek to live
more and more like Christ. It’s a purifying hope. There’s going to be a passion in
you, a motivation in you that drives you to become more and
more like Jesus. You know, if that doesn’t exist
in somebody’s life, then that’s a statement,
there’s something not right. I think if I hear a believer, and this
is just an example, it may not apply to you, if I hear a
believer who’s been reading the book Absolute
Surrender by Andrew Murray or the book Practicing
the Presence of God or something like that, it says to
me, if they weren’t assigned to do it, but they’re
doing it because they want to do it, it says to me that they
want to learn about the holy life. They
want to learn about the life of God, they want to become
more like Jesus. And
that says to me, that there’s something in their heart. Right? There’s something very real, that
they want to become more like him, they want to learn more
about him. So they have this hope, and there is a
desire, and one day when they stand before Christ, they will
become completely perfected. That
says something. But if that desire is not in their heart,
if there’s no desire, there’s no passion---“Oh
I want to live more like Jesus, I want to learn more about
it.” I’m
reading the book right now by F.D. Meyer, The
Blessed Life. And
I’ve read books like that before, and I want that life,
I want that life, I want that consecrated life. And
why would I want it? It
would be strange [to the world] to want a life like that. I
want it because Jesus is in my life. And
there’s a desire to become more like him, to please
him. I want to be set apart, I want to be used. I
want to do whatever he says. I
want to please him. I want to live a holy life. It grieves me if I’m not living
a holy life. So
there’s this thing, as I read, as I study the Bible,
I read books, and they attract me. The consecrated life, that life, being
set apart, being crucified, being persecuted, being squished
and pulled through the vine-press, I want to read that book
[laughter], I want to read that book, I want to become more
like Jesus, it’s in me. I
see it in many of you, it’s in you too, you’re
reading the same books,
‘Got this great tape, check out this tape.’ And
you read about ‘dying to self, dying to self’,
got to read this, got to get this tape, watching this video,
you know. That says something. You’re born-again. And you know that one day “I’m
going to be like Christ. And
I can’t wait to be like him.” So
even now, there is in my heart, this passion to become more
and more like him. Well, if that hasn’t got us thinking,
he goes even further.
John’s and the Bible’s
definition for sin,
who’s your daddy?
Verses 4 to 10, we’ll make a couple
points. He goes
Boom! Boom, boom, boom!, here’s good reasons to live a holy
life, boom, boom, boom, boom, one after another. “Who
ever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” [King
James version: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (verse
4). To me, that is both John’s and
the Bible’s definition for what sin is—clearly
stated, it’s the transgression of God’s law,
whichever version your Christian conscience dictates that
you follow, whether OT 10 Commandment based Law of God, or
NT based law of Christ (which is basically 9 of the 10 Commandments).] “And
you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and
in him there is no sin. Whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him or known
him. Little children
let no one deceive you, he who practices righteousness is
righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil
has sinned from the beginning. For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. Whoever
has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in
him and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In
this the children of God and the children of the devil are
manifest, whoever does not practice righteousness is not
of God, nor is he who does not love his brother” (1
John 3:5-10). Wow,
wow, try that in the counseling session, you know. Woe. But he says “here are plenty of
good reasons. Think
through this. Think through this. He says ‘think through this, if
you are a child of God.’ Here’s
the reasoning. Don’t
let anyone deceive you, don’t be confused. Verse 4, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin
is lawlessness.” Right
there he’s dealing with this understanding that existed
then, you know,
“Hey, grace, man, I’m in grace, there’s
liberty, I can do whatever I want”, that understanding
which is kind of casual about the Christian experience which
says, “I’m saved, there’s grace, you know,
big deal.” But
then he says in verse 4, ‘Whoever sins commits lawlessness,
lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.’ [And
if you have any question about which law, read this verse
in the King James.] That’s a strong statement, isn’t
it? It is true, as a child of God, I am not
in bondage anymore to the law, to the Old Testament [to trying
to obey it on my own], I’ve been set free in Christ,
there’s liberty, but it is also true that as a Christian
I should be living a life that fulfills the Law. I should not be living a life that is
lawless, that is lawless, that is practicing sin, breaking
the Law of God. I mean, Jesus said you cannot serve two
masters. So,
if I’m governed by God, I fulfill his Law. He’s
my King, I obey him, I do what he says. But
to sin on the other hand is to break the Law of God, it’s
lawlessness. Strong statement. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to
fulfill the Law. If
he is my Lord, then you can know, you can be assured that
I am going to be seeking to live a life too that fulfills
the Law. Including
the law of the land, except when the law of the land goes
against God’s Law [cf. Romans 13:1-7]. The
law of the land, but especially God’s Law, the 10 Commandments,
the laws he writes upon my heart and upon my conscience. The
things he declares so clearly in the New Testament. There’s
one reason he says for holiness, and here’s some more, Verse
5, “And you know that he was manifested to take away
our sins, and in him is no sin.” So
he talks about his appearing in the future, now he talks
about when he came, his manifestation, he came to this earth,
when he came to this earth he died on a cross and he was
risen to life---he did this to take away my sins. So as a Christian my sins have been taken
away. He doesn’t
just say they were forgiven, there’s something that’s
happened, they’ve been taken away. Not only are my sins taken away, but he
says “in him there is no sin” (verse
5b). So, Jesus came, he took away my sins,
Jesus, his very person, in him there is no sin, therefore
he is my God, is my Father, I’m a child of God. There’s
plenty of reasons. If
he came to take away my sins, and his nature is a holy life,
then I also should be living a holy life. It
only is reasonable. It only makes sense. It’s bizarre to be a Christian and
to be living the lifestyle of sin when he came and took away
your sin. There’s no sin in him, there’s
never been any sin in him. It’s certainly, as we’ve
seen already, sin drastically effects our relationship with
God. But he goes
even further, all these reasons to live a holy life. He
says in verse 6, “Whoever
abides in him does not sin…” If
you’re walking with God you do not sin. If
I’m living a sinful lifestyle, if you’re living
a sinful lifestyle, you cannot say that you’re walking
with God. John
says, he makes it clear, “Whoever
abides in him does not sin.” Now,
when he says “sin” there, as many of you I know
from other Bible studies, the word there is in the perfect
tense in the Greek, so he means “continuing the practice
of sin.” Of
course we look at the saints of the Old Testament, these
tremendous men and women of God, we can find sins in their
lives. He’s
not referring to stumbling now and then, but if you’re
practicing sin, he makes it absolutely clear, you are not
abiding in God. Done
deal, that’s the Word of God, you’re not in fellowship
with the Lord. And that’s a dangerous place to
be is out of fellowship with God. You
make yourself vulnerable if you’re a believer, or it
says that you’re not a believer, that’s what
he says. Whoever abides in him does not sin, does not sin. Then he goes further, “Whoever sins [continuously as a lifestyle]
has neither seen him or known him.” Wow! If you are practicing a sinful lifestyle
and just living in it, and there’s no real work to
change, desire to get out of that, just living in it, he
says if that is the case to an individual, he says you’ve
never seen him, you’ve never had that born-again experience, and
you do not know him. Jesus,
you remember, said, he basically said in Matthew
chapter 5, verse 8 there on the Sermon on the Mount,
if you live a sinful lifestyle, you’ve never seen God,
because the pure in heart see God. “Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The pure in heart. If that is not true of my life, there
is a problem. Now,
there’s a good reason, but he goes further. Verse 7, He says “Don’t
let anybody deceive you”, man that’s so often
the problem when we get deceived by somebody else. Somebody
else says ‘Well, no, no, no there’s other things,
there’s other issues, come on.’ And we get deceived, because we’re
not listening to God and his Word. He
says, “Little children, let no one deceive
you, he who practices righteousness is righteous, just as
he is righteous”
(verse 7). Meaning,
the person that lives like Christ is indeed a born-again
believer. The
righteousness of Christ is in him, and I see it. But if there isn’t that, then the
question, are they a born-again believer? John
is also refuting the Gnostic teaching, as we mentioned
before, the Christians were being taught at that time by
some of these guys like Cerinthis ‘not to worry about
sin because the body, in Gnostic teaching, the spirit was
good, the body was evil, the physical was evil, so in your
body, hey it’s evil, you can’t do anything
about it, but it doesn’t effect the spirit, so hey
you don’t have to worry about sin.’ Some
of them were even teaching ‘that it is natural to
sin, because it’s the body, it’s natural, go
ahead, just fill that.’ And
today it’s amazing that in parts of the Church they’re
actually teaching that. I had a quote not too many Sundays ago,
about Church leaders declaring, you know, ‘Hey, these
natural drives, sexual perversion and all that, hey man,
it’s natural, it’s natural, go and do it. It’s healthy.’ Wow. He
says, “don’t
let anybody deceive you.” [When
he says Church leaders, some of these “leaders” and
the denominations they come from are more than likely from
dead or dying past genuine Christian revivals that then
grew into denominations. Today
a good number of these denominations are either spiritually
dead or dying. There can be a real danger remaining in
one of these churches or denominations. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/IntroChurchHistory.htm .] If
you’re living the life of Christ and you’re
living for Jesus, Jesus said
“Come and follow me.” So if you’re following him, then
it’s a testimony that you love Jesus Christ, that Christ
is in your heart. Verse
8, “But he who sins is of the devil.” Oh
man, try telling that to another person, you know, who’s
just saying
‘Hey, I can do this, I can do that.’ Just
read this Scripture to them. “He who sins is of the devil…” He now goes on, you know. He said earlier, you’re a child
of God, your heavenly Father, he’s your Father. Now
he says, here’s a test to know who your dad is---is
it the devil or is it God? “But he who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning
from the beginning…” We
know that, he was kicked out of heaven, that’s the
beginning when Satan was up there and he exalted himself
and he sinned and he fell, God kicked him out of heaven,
that’s the beginning he’s referring to. [cf.
Revelation 12:1-9; Isaiah 14:12-21; Ezekiel 28:12-17.] But he who sins then has got his (the
devil’s) nature, is doing what he does, he’s
done it from the start. That’s him, the devil, that’s
how sin came into the world, he originated that whole deal.
[Satan and the demons, one whole third of the created angels,
as Revelation 12:3-4 shows, fell away with Satan. They
were on earth when Adam and Eve were created. They
were thrown back to earth in what might be called the first
intergalactic war fought in heaven (although the war was
very one-sided, no one can win against God). The major event in earth’s pre-human
existence was the great dying of the dinosaurs, 65 million
years ago. Jesus in Luke 10:18 said he saw Satan
fall as lightning from heaven. This
would have been before the creation of man. So
poor little old mankind was created on a planet infested
with demons and Satan. God is all-knowing, so he must have had
a purpose for doing it that way. To
learn more about this pre-historic time, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/dinosaurs/dinosaurs.htm.] So if it’s in you, you’re
acting like him. You’re
living like the devil. And that’s not a compliment. Sometimes in our society that’s
a compliment, to live like the devil. But
that’s not a compliment, according to the Word of God. He’s
making it clear, our way of life will indicate who our real
dad is.
Purpose of Christ’s coming,
to destroy the works of the devil
“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil” (verse 8b). So,
one of the reasons to live a holy life is it proves who
your Dad is. But also, another reason is there’s
no excuse because Jesus Christ came, and when he died on
the cross and was buried and rose to life, he destroyed
the works of the devil. He destroyed the works of the devil, meaning
that there’s no temptation that I can’t handle
anymore. That there’s no temptation too great
for me that I can’t handle it, as the Scripture promises. That word destroy there doesn’t
mean completely annihilated, meaning that it doesn’t
exist anymore [although after Revelation 21:1-17 this will
have been accomplished by Jesus as well]. Clearly Satan is working in the world,
but what it means as far as destroying the works of the
devil, means that it is essentially inoperative, robbed
it of it’s power in my life as a Christian [or Messianic
believer}. So
the works of Satan don’t any longer have a power
over my life. And I should be able to then, there’s
no excuse to not live a godly life. You
can’t come up with a list of excuses. There’s
no excuse. Verse 9, “Whoever has been born of
God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot
sin, because he has been born of God.” If you are born-again, he says you cannot live a sinful life. Meaning the Holy Spirit is in you. When he refers to “seed”,
meaning the life of God is come into you, meaning essentially
the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit is in me, when
I go into a sinful practice, any sin, the Holy Spirit is
grieved, and I’m grieved, and I cannot stay there. I
just, I’m not comfortable there. I
can’t live like that, ‘I stumbled, God forgive
me, I don’t want to go down there.’ I just can’t live there. So, whoever has been born of God, he says,
doesn’t sin, because God’s seed, his Spirit,
his life has entered you, and you cannot sin, you cannot
sin, you can’t live in a lifestyle of sin. It just can’t happen because God
is in you. The
Holy Spirit [cf. John 14, read it]. You’ve
been born of God. Paul said in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold
all things have become new.” That’s what that Scripture means.
Who’s your Daddy?
Finally,
in verse 10, he
says “In this the children of God and the
children of the devil are manifest,”---how is it
proved, are you a child of God or a child of Satan? The
proof is this---“whoever practices righteousness is
of God, whoever does not practice righteousness is not of
God. Whoever loves his brother is of God, whoever
does not love his brother is not of God.” King
James version, verse 10, “In this the children of God
are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not
his brother.”
Summary
There’s
the test, the life, the life. He
makes it so clear. To
know God is to become more and more like Christ. Man,
he doesn’t let us just get casual, does he? Man,
this is a great book, I love this book. Good
reasons for you and I to live a holy life. He’s
given us many of them. One
is, to be confident before Jesus at his coming, which is
not far from now. Secondly, to have assurance, assurance
that I’m indeed a believer in Jesus Christ. Another
reason to live a holy life is so that we will please our
Father who loves us so much. But
in addition, that passion, desire to live a holy life is
evidence that I have a hope, that I want to be like Christ. Further,
as he says, it fulfills the Law, it means I’m being
governed by God [and in reality, God through the indwelling
Holy Spirit is writing his laws in our minds and upon our
hearts, the very definition of the new covenant (cf. Jeremiah
31:31-34; Hebrews 8:6-13).], because he has taken away my
sin and has destroyed all the works of the devil. There
is absolutely no excuse. [to
see the mechanics of how the devil’s power in us has
been made inoperative, log onto the Romans 6-8 studies at http://www.unityinchrist.com/romans/Romans6-1-5page1.htm and
read through those expository studies.] In
Christ there is no sin. And
so to abide in him goes hand in hand with a holy life. Well, a holy life, living and practicing
righteousness proves that the Father is my Father, that he
is my heavenly Father. And
it also proves that his life and love is in me, his seed,
his Holy Spirit. Man,
there’s a lot right there. ‘Father
we thank you for your Word. I
thank you that we could look at these Scriptures together
this morning. We’ve
simply just gone through them. But
yet Lord, so vital, so important, so critical for us to hear,
for us to understand, for us to perceive. Lord
I pray all of us that have ears to hear [and eyes to perceive]
this morning, and Lord if there’s anyone here now,
because of a hardness in their heart, because of rebellion
against God, or because simply that they’re not born-again,
I ask even God now that you’d just work in their hearts
and in your loving way, that you’d bring the conviction,
you’d bring the light, you’d show them Lord,
you’d show them what it means, all this, to them individually. At
the beginning of the year we went through the Word and you
reminded us, as you do over and over in the Word, the great
need for us to live holy lives. So
important. And I pray as we’ve been reminded
this morning, that in my own life, all our lives, that there
would be greater consecration to you, a greater holiness
Lord. Oh Lord,
stamp it on our minds, stamp it on our hearts. Very soon from now we’ll be standing
before you. Are
we going to be confident? Is it worth it for just a temporary time
to live in such a way that we would stand ashamed before
you? Oh Lord work in our hearts that we could
all stand confident and not be ashamed before you at your
coming, Father. Lord you love us so much, you love us
so much. All
the more this morning, just fill our hearts with that love
to overflowing. As
we leave this morning, may people in our families, people
in our neighborhoods and our workplaces and in our classrooms
see, yes, the love of God in us shed abroad in our hearts
Lord. Thank you,
incredible, we’re children of God, we’re in such
a unique and special place with you, we are your children. Oh
Lord, to be your children is to have your nature, it’s
to be like you Lord. Oh
I pray in my own life people would see Jesus, Lord, they’d
see you in me. Lord
work in our hearts. Move
our hearts. I
pray we’d abide in you and glorify you Father. I
thank you…’ “ [transcript of a sermon given in New England.]
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