WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.759 This morning, we will be taking a small break 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:07.580 from Ecclesiastes, and we will be in the book 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:12.580 of 1 John, and we'll be in chapter three, 1 John 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:16.559 chapter three. Now, I know 1 John might seem... 00:00:16.570 --> 00:00:20.670 to be unfit to parallel Ecclesiastes or to go 00:00:20.670 --> 00:00:23.769 alongside Ecclesiastes, but it actually fits 00:00:23.769 --> 00:00:27.149 with Ecclesiastes very well, because 1 John, 00:00:27.350 --> 00:00:31.089 like Ecclesiastes, tries to encourage believers 00:00:31.089 --> 00:00:35.270 to believe in their faith, but it also strives 00:00:35.270 --> 00:00:38.310 to help believers in how they ought to live. 00:00:40.229 --> 00:00:43.329 And so it will be in 1 John chapter 3, but before 00:00:43.329 --> 00:00:46.820 I read here, we need the Lord's help in this 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:50.119 to understand how we are to live according to 00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:55.640 his word. So let me pray. Our father, you are 00:00:55.640 --> 00:00:58.820 holy and you are righteous. You are all powerful. 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:01.899 You are the king of kings and lord of lords. 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:05.680 Lord, you have given to us a great salvation 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:09.439 in your son, who through his blood, we can be 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:13.939 forgiven of our sins, but also receive your righteousness, 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:17.290 to receive your holiness through him. And we 00:01:17.290 --> 00:01:19.349 thank you for your Holy Spirit that helps us 00:01:19.349 --> 00:01:23.590 day by day to grow closer to you, to understand 00:01:23.590 --> 00:01:26.469 who you are and how we are to walk according 00:01:26.469 --> 00:01:29.609 to your word. Lord, we pray for your help this 00:01:29.609 --> 00:01:31.989 morning to help us understand everything that 00:01:31.989 --> 00:01:35.530 you have hidden in your word so that we can live 00:01:35.530 --> 00:01:39.329 by it. We pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen. 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:44.400 If you're anything like me, you grew up, playing 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.719 different sports. You maybe started with soccer 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:52.000 and developed a discipline for running. But it 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.599 was too much running, so you decided to change 00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:58.900 the tempo and play baseball. But then baseball, 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:01.579 as a young boy, was a little too slow paced. 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:04.420 You got put in the outfield, and when you're 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:06.799 a little kid, balls don't get hit to the outfield, 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:09.750 so you stood there most of the time. So you asked 00:02:09.750 --> 00:02:11.669 your parents to play a different sport, and they 00:02:11.669 --> 00:02:14.090 moved you to basketball because that's what the 00:02:14.090 --> 00:02:16.909 church offered. And you enjoyed basketball, but 00:02:16.909 --> 00:02:19.270 then by middle school, everyone got their growth 00:02:19.270 --> 00:02:23.569 spurt, but you did not get yours. And so you 00:02:23.569 --> 00:02:25.750 didn't know what to turn to next. Well, you did, 00:02:25.770 --> 00:02:27.930 but your parents said, maybe not yet. You're 00:02:27.930 --> 00:02:30.870 not quite old enough. But they eventually gave 00:02:30.870 --> 00:02:33.939 in and let you play football. And so in the eighth 00:02:33.939 --> 00:02:36.860 grade, you got to enter football, having these 00:02:36.860 --> 00:02:39.800 disciplines from other sports of running and 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:42.620 push -ups and what to do with your arms and knowing 00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:45.759 that they're attached to your body. But you didn't 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:48.460 have the disciplines of a football player, the 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:51.080 characteristics of a football player. You didn't 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.919 know how to tackle or... where the ball is meant 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:58.460 to be on the field at what times. On kickoff, 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:00.439 you don't really know whether you tackle the 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:02.919 guy or you just let him run by you. You don't 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:04.599 really know what's going on. You don't have those 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:07.639 characteristics. So you spend time and you practice 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:10.659 and you develop until you have those characteristics. 00:03:11.379 --> 00:03:13.539 And then you're a football player because you 00:03:13.539 --> 00:03:15.560 can tackle. You know where you're meant to be 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:17.379 on the field and where other people are meant 00:03:17.379 --> 00:03:20.710 to be. Or maybe sports was never really your 00:03:20.710 --> 00:03:23.849 thing, but you wanted to be a baker or a chef 00:03:23.849 --> 00:03:27.009 or a barbecue pit master. And so you learned 00:03:27.009 --> 00:03:32.189 how to bake cakes or cook lasagna or grill a 00:03:32.189 --> 00:03:35.129 full rack of ribs. So you could be like those 00:03:35.129 --> 00:03:38.830 things. Or maybe neither of those, sports or 00:03:38.830 --> 00:03:41.449 cooking, were not your hobbies, but you loved 00:03:41.449 --> 00:03:44.909 music. And so you spent time and you developed 00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:47.069 the characteristics of a musician. You learned 00:03:47.069 --> 00:03:49.990 how to play guitar or how to play banjo or how 00:03:49.990 --> 00:03:52.729 to play the piano or the flute or whatever your 00:03:52.729 --> 00:03:55.590 heart desired so that you could be a musician. 00:03:56.849 --> 00:04:00.270 Our faith is just like these things. There are 00:04:00.270 --> 00:04:03.330 certain characteristics that mark us out as Christians, 00:04:03.930 --> 00:04:07.210 just like certain characteristics mark you out 00:04:07.210 --> 00:04:10.629 as a baker or as a football player or as a musician. 00:04:12.780 --> 00:04:16.439 And so this is what 1 John chapter three talks 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:20.079 about. Let me go ahead and read. And I'm going 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:23.019 to begin in verse one, even though the sermon 00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:25.420 will focus on verses four through 10, just to 00:04:25.420 --> 00:04:28.939 give us a little bit of background. See what 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:32.120 kind of love the father has given to us, that 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:35.019 we should be called children of God. And so we 00:04:35.019 --> 00:04:38.180 are. The reason why the world does not know us 00:04:38.180 --> 00:04:41.600 is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:44.779 God's children now, and what we will be has not 00:04:44.779 --> 00:04:47.560 yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, 00:04:47.660 --> 00:04:50.860 we shall be like him, because we shall see him 00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:54.459 as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him 00:04:54.459 --> 00:04:58.540 purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:01.740 makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. 00:05:02.540 --> 00:05:05.980 Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared 00:05:05.980 --> 00:05:08.800 in order to take away sins, and in him there 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:12.399 is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:14.980 sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:18.180 seen him or known him. Little children, let no 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:21.040 one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:24.019 is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes 00:05:24.019 --> 00:05:26.860 a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the 00:05:26.860 --> 00:05:29.600 devil has been sinning from the beginning. The 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:32.399 reason the son of God appeared was to destroy 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.439 the works of the devil. No one born of God makes 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:38.279 a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:41.680 in him. He cannot keep on sinning because he 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:45.079 has been born of God By this it is evident who 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:47.779 the children of God are and who the children 00:05:47.779 --> 00:05:49.500 of the devil and who are the children of the 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:51.959 devil Whoever does not practice righteousness 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:55.459 is not of God nor is the one who does not love 00:05:55.459 --> 00:05:59.980 his brother So John here in chapter 3 is is really 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:02.560 addressing the climax of the letter He's getting 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:05.800 to the central point of the letter and the beginning 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:08.759 of the letter. He taught believers how to walk 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:10.879 in the love of God and taught them about the 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:14.160 love of God. And then he went from chapter one 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:16.139 and as he got into chapter two, he talked about 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:19.420 the forgiveness we have in Christ and the life 00:06:19.420 --> 00:06:22.759 that we have in him. We actually saw that in 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:26.040 our pardoning grace passage already this morning. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:31.459 And then he taught us about those who walk against 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:33.680 Christ, who are the antichrist. They walk in 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:36.680 opposition to who Christ is. Not just a specific 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:39.680 person, but a type of spirit. that goes against 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.879 everything Christ is. And then as we just saw 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:45.980 at the beginning of chapter three, he tells us 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:48.759 to look forward to the return of Christ, the 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:51.319 day when Christ will come and all sin will be 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:54.240 dealt with and we will be transformed when he 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:56.920 comes and we are being transformed as we wait. 00:06:58.410 --> 00:07:00.649 And then in this passage here in verses four 00:07:00.649 --> 00:07:03.910 through 10, John is going to explain what the 00:07:03.910 --> 00:07:06.930 moral implications are and what it means to be 00:07:06.930 --> 00:07:09.149 transformed by Christ and how it should look. 00:07:09.670 --> 00:07:12.250 And what we'll ultimately learn is those who 00:07:12.250 --> 00:07:14.170 belong to Christ will practice righteousness. 00:07:15.050 --> 00:07:17.730 Now I want to say that one more time. What we'll 00:07:17.730 --> 00:07:20.110 learn is that those who belong to Christ will 00:07:20.110 --> 00:07:23.610 practice righteousness. Now we'll look at this 00:07:23.610 --> 00:07:27.329 under three headings. But before we can understand 00:07:27.329 --> 00:07:29.470 what it means to practice righteousness, to be 00:07:29.470 --> 00:07:32.709 disciplined in righteousness, we must first understand 00:07:32.709 --> 00:07:36.850 the practice of lawlessness in verses four through 00:07:36.850 --> 00:07:41.670 six. Here in verse four, John begins by telling 00:07:41.670 --> 00:07:45.170 us, whoever practices sinning also practices 00:07:45.170 --> 00:07:48.350 lawlessness. If you have a different translation 00:07:48.350 --> 00:07:50.649 from the ESV, like the New King James or the 00:07:50.649 --> 00:07:52.949 King James, what you'll read is something that 00:07:52.949 --> 00:07:55.990 seems more solid, it omits the word practice 00:07:55.990 --> 00:07:59.389 and it just says, whoever commits sin commits 00:07:59.389 --> 00:08:02.310 lawlessness. It ties them together, just like 00:08:02.310 --> 00:08:05.449 the end of the verse will do. And so to understand 00:08:05.449 --> 00:08:07.970 what John is getting at here with children in 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:11.490 the room, we need to define our terms. We need 00:08:11.490 --> 00:08:13.730 to remember what sin is because sometimes as 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:16.350 Christians, especially us who are older in the 00:08:16.350 --> 00:08:18.610 faith, we get used to just using these blanket 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:22.139 terms and we forget the true definition. And 00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:24.420 so we'll begin with the definition of sin, and 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:27.240 I'll borrow it from the shorter catechism. Sin 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:31.240 is any want of conformity unto or the transgression 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:34.460 of the law of God. Now I know that is still a 00:08:34.460 --> 00:08:36.679 bit complicated, so let's break it down a little 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:40.440 bit further. Sin is any thought, word, or deed 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:43.620 that either accidentally or willfully, purposely 00:08:43.620 --> 00:08:47.639 violates the moral law of God that violates the 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.980 Ten Commandments. Any action, any thought, any 00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:54.330 word. or deed that goes against the Ten Commandments. 00:08:55.269 --> 00:08:58.389 And then we have this word lawlessness. Now if 00:08:58.389 --> 00:09:00.990 you take lawlessness and you break it into its 00:09:00.990 --> 00:09:04.769 two parts, lawless, you get the idea that there's 00:09:04.769 --> 00:09:07.610 the law of God, the moral law that places commandments 00:09:07.610 --> 00:09:11.110 on us of how we are to live. And so those who 00:09:11.110 --> 00:09:15.149 would be lawless, without, would be people who, 00:09:15.149 --> 00:09:17.169 without the gospel, without the law, maybe they 00:09:17.169 --> 00:09:20.049 haven't heard it. But what John is going for 00:09:20.049 --> 00:09:24.669 here in his letter is actually something more 00:09:24.669 --> 00:09:26.970 than that. It's not just this idea of those who 00:09:26.970 --> 00:09:29.529 have not heard the gospel or who have never received 00:09:29.529 --> 00:09:34.269 the law of God. It's actually a Greek word, enomian. 00:09:34.809 --> 00:09:38.610 And enomian is not just a general law breaking 00:09:38.610 --> 00:09:40.950 or someone without the law. It's actually talking 00:09:40.950 --> 00:09:43.970 about those who willfully go against the law 00:09:43.970 --> 00:09:46.750 of God. They know the Ten Commandments. They 00:09:46.750 --> 00:09:49.929 know that they are to worship God and God alone. 00:09:50.110 --> 00:09:52.490 They know that they are not meant to covet, that 00:09:52.490 --> 00:09:55.029 they are to give everything to the Lord, that 00:09:55.029 --> 00:09:57.710 they are to love. They're not meant to steal 00:09:57.710 --> 00:09:59.610 from their neighbor or lie to their neighbor. 00:10:01.309 --> 00:10:05.289 It is those who know these truths, but who refuse 00:10:05.289 --> 00:10:09.990 to obey them. They have zero regard for who God 00:10:09.990 --> 00:10:12.870 is and His righteousness. They have zero fear 00:10:12.870 --> 00:10:16.370 for God, and they choose to live against Him 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:19.919 and against His authority. And so when we bring 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:24.460 this idea together, sin is lawlessness, as John 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:29.159 says here in his letter, we learn that sin is 00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:31.940 lawlessness. Anyone who commits sin is actually 00:10:31.940 --> 00:10:35.899 in the act of defiance of the law of God. But 00:10:35.899 --> 00:10:38.840 this actually seems discouraging because in the 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:42.159 first part of chapter three, and even in chapter 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:44.340 one of John, we're told we're forgiven of sins. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:48.669 So is John trying to discourage? discourage us 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:53.309 here. No, he's not. He's trying to point out 00:10:53.309 --> 00:10:56.690 a truth, and he's trying to warn believers against 00:10:56.690 --> 00:10:59.809 those in the church who claim the name of Christ, 00:11:00.110 --> 00:11:03.669 but fail to live like it. They know the law, 00:11:03.669 --> 00:11:06.309 they know what the word commands, but day by 00:11:06.309 --> 00:11:11.269 day they choose to go against it. And John is 00:11:11.269 --> 00:11:14.570 really combating here what false teachers, they 00:11:14.570 --> 00:11:17.830 were the Gnostics or the dotetics back in that 00:11:17.830 --> 00:11:20.789 time. And that group, the Gnostics, what they 00:11:20.789 --> 00:11:24.049 were known for is separating the body and the 00:11:24.049 --> 00:11:27.190 flesh. So they said on one hand, the human flesh, 00:11:27.490 --> 00:11:30.769 our body as it is, is evil and it is corrupt. 00:11:31.590 --> 00:11:35.090 And it will always sin. And we cannot really 00:11:35.090 --> 00:11:38.110 combat that sin. It will just be evil because 00:11:38.110 --> 00:11:41.070 it's flesh. But then there's spirit on the other 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:44.269 hand, the things of God. the things that belong 00:11:44.269 --> 00:11:47.389 to a realm outside of this earth. Those are the 00:11:47.389 --> 00:11:50.389 things that can be holy. So they would use this 00:11:50.389 --> 00:11:55.009 distinction to say we will always send and use 00:11:55.009 --> 00:11:57.970 it as an excuse, not just acknowledging that 00:11:57.970 --> 00:12:00.210 we will be sinners and saints, that as we go 00:12:00.210 --> 00:12:03.009 through this life we must become more like Christ, 00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:04.690 we must look more like Christ, but these are 00:12:04.690 --> 00:12:07.570 people who put no reins, they put no fence around 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:09.950 their sin, they just allowed it to roam freely 00:12:09.950 --> 00:12:13.840 and do what it pleases. saying the day will come. 00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:17.120 And we do see this in our society today, not 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:21.399 necessarily under the title of Gnostic or Dotetic, 00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:24.519 but just in general principles. We hear Christians 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:27.200 at times say, well, I'm just going to live how 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:30.080 I want, and I know before I die that God will 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.080 forgive me because I'll repent then. I even had 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.600 a dear friend that I grew up with from second 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:38.220 grade till college who, he had grown up in the 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:41.519 church. We had even taught Bible lessons together 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:44.960 at our public school in a little club. But as 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:47.860 we got to the end of high school, he began taking 00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:51.879 this mindset of, I've had this life, I've tried 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:55.000 to follow the Lord, but I'm struggling to get 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.519 a girlfriend. I'm struggling to get a newer car. 00:12:57.620 --> 00:13:00.460 I'm struggling to look like the popular kids. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.149 So I'm going to live how I want. I'm going to 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:05.950 listen to the music I want. I'm going to hang 00:13:05.950 --> 00:13:08.289 out with the people that I want. Because they 00:13:08.289 --> 00:13:10.570 get me popularity, they do something for me. 00:13:11.070 --> 00:13:12.909 But then towards the end of my life, or maybe 00:13:12.909 --> 00:13:15.789 when I'm a little older, I'll come back to Christ, 00:13:15.990 --> 00:13:18.330 and I'll repent, and I'll let those things go, 00:13:18.330 --> 00:13:21.090 and I'll start going to church again. And I warned 00:13:21.090 --> 00:13:23.669 this friend of mine at the time, you know better 00:13:23.669 --> 00:13:27.529 than this. Scripture tells us we must live according 00:13:27.529 --> 00:13:30.350 to the word of God. We're not meant to take the 00:13:30.350 --> 00:13:33.269 grace of God for granted. Yes, what Paul will 00:13:33.269 --> 00:13:35.389 say in Romans 7, believers will wrestle against 00:13:35.389 --> 00:13:38.289 sin, but that doesn't mean we give permission 00:13:38.289 --> 00:13:41.429 to it, that we make a habit of it. But he did 00:13:41.429 --> 00:13:44.850 not listen. I still pray for his repentance to 00:13:44.850 --> 00:13:48.649 this day. But we all know people like this, or 00:13:48.649 --> 00:13:51.090 we've heard of people like this, or maybe we've 00:13:51.090 --> 00:13:53.889 heard it put a little differently. You as Christians, 00:13:54.009 --> 00:13:57.450 all you need to do is love people. And not the 00:13:57.450 --> 00:13:59.590 type of love that pushes them towards the gospel, 00:13:59.690 --> 00:14:02.480 not warning them from hell. but just accepting 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.259 them how they are and the lifestyle that they 00:14:05.259 --> 00:14:09.419 want to live. It's giving them an excuse of, 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:11.100 well, God calls us to love, so as long as you 00:14:11.100 --> 00:14:13.740 love them, the rest of scripture doesn't really 00:14:13.740 --> 00:14:17.059 matter. We'll do away with that. And so we hear 00:14:17.059 --> 00:14:19.379 of these people today. These people, though, 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:22.679 they're ultimately apostates. They're people 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:25.580 who willfully mock the God that they claim bought 00:14:25.580 --> 00:14:29.179 them, the God that they claim salvation for from. 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:33.940 And it goes against the very purpose that Christ 00:14:33.940 --> 00:14:42.679 came. Going back to the text, the reason, verse 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:45.220 five, you know that he appeared in order to take 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:49.639 away sins and in him there is no sin. The very 00:14:49.639 --> 00:14:52.879 reason that Christ appeared was to do away with 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.600 sin. The reason he came down, just like the hymns 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.220 we sung this morning, was to purchase us, to 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:01.799 purchase his bride. And it was actually prophesied 00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:04.879 all the way back in Isaiah 53 talking about the 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.299 suffering servant. He was pierced for our transgressions. 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.360 He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:14.879 that bought us peace was upon him, and by his 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:18.500 wounds we were healed. Christ took on a true 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:22.259 body, a body of flesh just like ours, and a reasonable 00:15:22.259 --> 00:15:24.720 soul, one that knows good and evil, very similar 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:27.580 to ours, so that he could come down to this earth, 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:31.669 be humiliated, Live under the law that is the 00:15:31.669 --> 00:15:35.669 ten commandments and keep them in our place because 00:15:35.669 --> 00:15:40.049 we as Humans will always sin we will always go 00:15:40.049 --> 00:15:42.629 against God and we see that all the way back 00:15:42.629 --> 00:15:45.769 in Adam and Eve Adam and Eve were able to choose 00:15:45.769 --> 00:15:47.850 whether or not they ate from the tree But they 00:15:47.850 --> 00:15:50.409 chose that they chose to listen to the serpent 00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:54.110 over the Lord We as humans will always choose 00:15:54.110 --> 00:15:57.049 evil, but Christ came in our place to do what 00:15:57.049 --> 00:16:00.950 we could not to keep the law perfectly, to worship 00:16:00.950 --> 00:16:04.470 God perfectly, to love God and love neighbor 00:16:04.470 --> 00:16:09.970 as himself. He did not break one law, and if 00:16:09.970 --> 00:16:13.289 he did, he could not be our savior. But we know 00:16:13.289 --> 00:16:15.529 that there was no sin in him. He kept the law. 00:16:16.250 --> 00:16:19.769 John actually, in his gospel, tells us in John 00:16:19.769 --> 00:16:23.090 chapter 19, talking about Jesus and Pilate, Pilate 00:16:23.090 --> 00:16:27.639 went out again and said to him, him out to you 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:30.019 that you may know that I have found no guilt 00:16:30.019 --> 00:16:35.200 in him. Pilate, who was a Roman, he worshipped 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:38.000 a plethora of gods, he knew nothing but sin, 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:42.080 looked upon Jesus and saw his sinlessness. He 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:43.820 saw that there was no guilt in him, there was 00:16:43.820 --> 00:16:48.360 no transgression in him. But what we do know 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:52.759 is there is plenty in us. And so Jesus took our 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:56.039 sin on himself, and he became a curse for us. 00:16:56.039 --> 00:16:59.179 He was placed upon that cross, and he bore the 00:16:59.179 --> 00:17:01.899 full weight of our sin, the full weight of our 00:17:01.899 --> 00:17:05.079 lawlessness, our active rebellion against God, 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:10.039 our active fight against God, so that we could 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:14.240 have union with him. John actually uses the word 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:16.640 propitiation. We saw this again in our confession 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.680 this morning. And propitiation actually points 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:23.210 back to the Old Testament. and the day of atonement 00:17:23.210 --> 00:17:26.109 where a spotless sheep would be brought to the 00:17:26.109 --> 00:17:29.589 temple and people would lay their hands on the 00:17:29.589 --> 00:17:31.910 sheep. And they're laying on the hands of the 00:17:31.910 --> 00:17:34.529 sheep, they would confess their sins. And then 00:17:34.529 --> 00:17:36.529 they would let that sheep go and that was the 00:17:36.529 --> 00:17:38.829 idea that their sins are being removed from them. 00:17:40.049 --> 00:17:42.730 So pulling on that propitiation works off of 00:17:42.730 --> 00:17:46.329 this idea that Christ is the perfect sacrifice. 00:17:46.930 --> 00:17:50.920 He takes our sin on us, but unlike the lamb on 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:53.200 the day of atonement, he actually gives us his 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:56.180 righteousness. He gives us his good works and 00:17:56.180 --> 00:17:59.980 his holiness so that we can live according to 00:17:59.980 --> 00:18:02.819 his word and live life that is pleasing to him. 00:18:04.259 --> 00:18:07.539 John 15, going back to the gospel to John again, 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:10.839 says that Christ is the true vine and that we 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:13.319 as believers are united to him and we grow out 00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:18.480 of him and we should be like him. Now, Christian, 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:21.339 I want to stop and pause and ask you a question. 00:18:22.500 --> 00:18:26.160 Do you still meditate on this truth, the truth 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:29.420 of the gospel, that the sinless savior came for 00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:34.779 you, that he came to be among the sickness, to 00:18:34.779 --> 00:18:38.319 be among the poor and the broken and the needy, 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:41.500 and to live in our place so that we could have 00:18:41.500 --> 00:18:46.160 union with him? I know many of you grew up hearing 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:48.160 this truth, hearing this truth of the gospel. 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:51.119 But do you still meditate? Do you take time to 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:54.380 think on it daily? To be still and know that 00:18:54.380 --> 00:18:59.819 God is God. Or have you forgotten the gospel? 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:03.859 Have you ceased stopping about it? Do you maybe 00:19:03.859 --> 00:19:05.859 on Sundays come and think about your savior, 00:19:06.339 --> 00:19:08.279 but then the rest of the time forget about it? 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:13.160 I hope that's not the case. Because the gospel 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:16.839 is our only hope in being free from sin. And 00:19:16.839 --> 00:19:22.559 it's our only hope and living righteously. And 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:26.640 so we must be like Christ, verse six. No one 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:29.619 who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who 00:19:29.619 --> 00:19:32.140 keeps on sinning has either seen him or known 00:19:32.140 --> 00:19:36.980 him. Christ is holy. He is set apart from the 00:19:36.980 --> 00:19:40.180 things of this world. He is righteous. He is 00:19:40.180 --> 00:19:43.920 morally perfect in every action that he does. 00:19:45.559 --> 00:19:50.079 And we must be holy like him. If we wish to abide 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:53.259 and rest in Christ, we must let go of our sin 00:19:53.259 --> 00:19:56.559 and cling to the Savior. We cannot rest in the 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:59.480 arms of a spotless Savior if we still wish to 00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:02.220 go wallow and rest in the mud with the pigs. 00:20:03.099 --> 00:20:06.519 We cannot dirty our Savior, and He is holy so 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:10.240 we must be holy. And if you choose after hearing 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.940 the gospel, maybe even partaking of the Lord's 00:20:12.940 --> 00:20:16.720 Supper, to return to your sin, it is evident 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:19.519 that you have neither known him, you have no 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:22.279 relationship with him, you have forgotten the 00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:25.240 gospel, or maybe you never understood it in the 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:28.099 first place, and you have not seen him, there 00:20:28.099 --> 00:20:31.000 is no light in your mind that helps you understand 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:33.440 scripture, that helps you understand the good 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.680 things that God is calling you to. Because if 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:41.039 you had seen the light, the darkness that is 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:42.980 in your mind or was in your mind would not be 00:20:42.980 --> 00:20:47.259 all that great. The darkness would be replaced 00:20:47.259 --> 00:20:52.599 with the majesty of Christ. So do not claim the 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:55.319 name of Christ if you prefer your sin over the 00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:58.039 Savior, if you prefer the things of this world, 00:20:58.519 --> 00:21:02.099 if you prefer taking time to go to the bar overcoming 00:21:02.099 --> 00:21:05.519 the church, or use your free time to scroll on 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:07.359 your phone and go to the places of the internet 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:10.400 that you know you should not be going to. Or 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:13.259 maybe in the actions with your spouse, you choose 00:21:13.259 --> 00:21:16.299 to rebuke them harshly. and expect them to be 00:21:16.299 --> 00:21:19.519 perfect even though you're not. If you prefer 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:22.740 living that way and living in those things, do 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:26.740 not claim the name of Christ. Now to those who 00:21:26.740 --> 00:21:28.839 can confidently name the name of Christ, you 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:31.619 follow after the Savior. John wants to give us 00:21:31.619 --> 00:21:35.119 a warning about lawlessness. Now he will do this 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:37.579 in verses seven and eight. He will give us a 00:21:37.579 --> 00:21:42.279 warning about lawlessness. And he begins this 00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:45.400 section as he does often. in his letters. He 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.839 says little children. He does not come alongside 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:51.460 the church as an apostle, someone with great 00:21:51.460 --> 00:21:53.359 authority, someone who's building the church, 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:55.680 who's setting up the boundaries that the church 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:58.160 is to work in and how they are to operate. He's 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:01.079 actually coming alongside of them as an elder, 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:04.000 someone who's meant to shepherd the church, watch 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:05.839 out for the church and lead the church like an 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:08.920 apostle, but just to be a shepherd, be like a 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:12.650 father to those in the church. And so he gives 00:22:12.650 --> 00:22:14.910 them this warning, little children, do not be 00:22:14.910 --> 00:22:19.609 deceived. It's just like a father when they see 00:22:19.609 --> 00:22:21.450 their son or their daughter reaching for the 00:22:21.450 --> 00:22:24.329 hot stove, knowing that they just shut that stove 00:22:24.329 --> 00:22:27.109 off. So they warn their kid, don't touch that 00:22:27.109 --> 00:22:31.829 stove. You are going to burn your hand. He comes 00:22:31.829 --> 00:22:34.369 alongside them just like this. They are going 00:22:34.369 --> 00:22:37.369 to get hurt. And he tells them, do not be deceived. 00:22:37.660 --> 00:22:40.819 by people who claim the name of Christ but walk 00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:45.279 opposite to it. And so he's going to give three 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:47.740 statements here as part of his warning. He's 00:22:47.740 --> 00:22:50.539 first going to say that the righteous will act 00:22:50.539 --> 00:22:52.880 like their father. This is the second part of 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.740 verse seven. Whoever practices righteousness 00:22:55.740 --> 00:23:00.460 is righteous as he is righteous. So whoever walks 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:02.839 according to the word of God, who takes time 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:06.269 to worship God from a pure heart, who make sure 00:23:06.269 --> 00:23:08.490 there's no idol standing in their way, who takes 00:23:08.490 --> 00:23:12.690 time to love their neighbor, to serve them from 00:23:12.690 --> 00:23:15.730 a heart that loves God. Those people are righteous, 00:23:15.890 --> 00:23:19.950 just like Christ, just like God, their father. 00:23:21.789 --> 00:23:25.349 And righteousness, if you haven't caught up to 00:23:25.349 --> 00:23:27.829 it or if you've forgotten the definition to it, 00:23:28.670 --> 00:23:32.009 dictionaries will say that righteousness is behavior 00:23:32.009 --> 00:23:35.779 that is morally justifiable or right. But God's 00:23:35.779 --> 00:23:39.119 righteousness is perfect. It's not just justifiable 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:41.940 or right. It's perfect actions, perfect thoughts, 00:23:42.180 --> 00:23:45.359 perfect deeds. It really gets the core of who 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:50.960 God is. Now, are we righteous because we do righteous 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.500 things, because we act, talk, and walk a certain 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:56.700 way? No, we're not righteous by our works. This 00:23:56.700 --> 00:23:59.720 is not work -based salvation that John is trying 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:03.730 to set forth here or to tell us about. No, we 00:24:03.730 --> 00:24:06.730 are to be righteous like our Savior. We are to 00:24:06.730 --> 00:24:09.829 be tied to our Savior going back to John 15. 00:24:10.470 --> 00:24:13.670 And the true vine, Christ is the true vine. And 00:24:13.670 --> 00:24:16.329 every branch that belongs to Him, He will prune. 00:24:16.710 --> 00:24:20.369 He will shape. He will cut off that sin and cause 00:24:20.369 --> 00:24:22.289 them to walk in the love of God and the walk 00:24:22.289 --> 00:24:26.190 of, and then the love of neighbor. He will make 00:24:26.190 --> 00:24:30.279 the branches that are in Him more like Him. So 00:24:30.279 --> 00:24:32.359 those who are righteous will walk righteously 00:24:32.359 --> 00:24:35.640 and we do so because we know Christ and we know 00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:39.960 God the Father. But then John in this warning 00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:43.319 talks about the lawless. The lawless actually 00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:47.079 act like their father. John 15 also tells us 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:50.839 the opposite of those branches who seem to be 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:52.799 a part of the true vine but they have no fruit. 00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:56.660 They will be cut off from God. God will reject 00:24:56.660 --> 00:25:00.609 them as they have rejected them. They are children 00:25:00.609 --> 00:25:04.190 of the devil. This is verse eight. Whoever makes 00:25:04.190 --> 00:25:06.430 a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the 00:25:06.430 --> 00:25:10.589 devil has been sinning from the beginning. So 00:25:10.589 --> 00:25:13.549 the lawless children who claim Christ but walk 00:25:13.549 --> 00:25:16.650 opposing are actually children of the devil. 00:25:17.029 --> 00:25:19.369 We actually see this in Jesus' interaction with 00:25:19.369 --> 00:25:21.990 the Pharisees. The Pharisees tried to push their 00:25:21.990 --> 00:25:24.890 man -made laws on Christ to say this is how you 00:25:24.890 --> 00:25:27.720 need to live according to our law. but they forgot 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:30.220 the law of God. They forgot the grace of God 00:25:30.220 --> 00:25:33.740 and the love of God and the mercy of God. And 00:25:33.740 --> 00:25:35.279 these people do it just like their father who 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:38.220 has done it from the beginning. Now, being in 00:25:38.220 --> 00:25:40.799 1 John and you hear this word beginning, maybe 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:44.380 you think back to the Gospel of John, where in 00:25:44.380 --> 00:25:46.880 the beginning of the Gospel of John, we hear 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:49.839 that the Word was God and the Word was with God 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:53.599 from the beginning. The devil is not from the 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:56.369 beginning like God is from the beginning. The 00:25:56.369 --> 00:25:58.609 devil is only from the beginning of creation. 00:25:58.710 --> 00:26:02.210 He is a created work. And that's why in scripture, 00:26:02.690 --> 00:26:04.950 the first time we see the devil is in Genesis 00:26:04.950 --> 00:26:08.910 three, when the serpent comes to tempt Adam and 00:26:08.910 --> 00:26:11.349 Eve to eat of the tree. And what he actually 00:26:11.349 --> 00:26:15.670 does is he twists the word of God. He asks Eve, 00:26:15.890 --> 00:26:18.650 is that really what God said? Did he really say 00:26:18.650 --> 00:26:20.549 that you couldn't look at that tree, that you 00:26:20.549 --> 00:26:22.970 couldn't eat of that tree? Or was he just trying 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:27.269 to deceive you? The devil, Satan, Lucifer, was 00:26:27.269 --> 00:26:30.009 an angel. He knew what God required. He knew 00:26:30.009 --> 00:26:33.490 the words of God, but he twisted them to have 00:26:33.490 --> 00:26:38.309 others follow him. And this is what false teachers 00:26:38.309 --> 00:26:40.769 do or false Christians do when they try to tell 00:26:40.769 --> 00:26:45.329 us that we can just live how we want to. It's 00:26:45.329 --> 00:26:47.329 a twisting of the law of God. Oh, just love. 00:26:48.170 --> 00:26:52.089 Don't worry about the rest. Just love and accept 00:26:52.089 --> 00:26:56.970 and be all gracious. Forget about that God will 00:26:56.970 --> 00:26:59.809 judge. Forget about that God is righteous and 00:26:59.809 --> 00:27:03.529 that we need to be righteous. We must follow 00:27:03.529 --> 00:27:05.849 our Savior, otherwise we prove ourselves to be 00:27:05.849 --> 00:27:08.269 children of the devil. And we must watch out. 00:27:08.569 --> 00:27:11.069 That's what John's warning here is. We must look 00:27:11.069 --> 00:27:14.769 and we must examine. Now there are times where 00:27:14.769 --> 00:27:18.329 believers will fall into sin and they get stuck 00:27:18.329 --> 00:27:21.529 in it for a while. Westminster chapter five, 00:27:21.609 --> 00:27:24.559 the confession actually tells us. that sometimes 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:28.180 God will allow Christians, born again believers, 00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:33.380 to be overcome by sin so that they can remember 00:27:33.380 --> 00:27:37.420 his mercy. So we need to give people grace in 00:27:37.420 --> 00:27:40.900 our judgment and we must not be quick to call 00:27:40.900 --> 00:27:43.240 them evil or to call them sons of the devil, 00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:48.440 but we also need to call a spade a spade. And 00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:50.539 so Jesus gives us a hope here though as we deal 00:27:50.539 --> 00:27:53.720 with people. Who claimed Christ but walk opposing 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:56.420 to him he gives he ends this warning by a message 00:27:56.420 --> 00:28:02.119 of hope in Verse 8 the second part of it He comes 00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:04.680 back to the Son of God the reason the Son of 00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:07.619 God appeared was to destroy the works of the 00:28:07.619 --> 00:28:10.240 devil He goes back to why Christ Christ came. 00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:13.380 He is the Son of God one who is united to God 00:28:13.380 --> 00:28:16.460 He has no beginning or no end. He is eternal 00:28:16.460 --> 00:28:19.359 with the Father and he came to destroy he came 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:23.519 to annihilate He actually fulfilled, he completed 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:26.819 Genesis 315. He came to crush the head of the 00:28:26.819 --> 00:28:30.240 serpent, and he did just that. He conquered death, 00:28:30.299 --> 00:28:32.400 the greatest work, or the greatest work of the 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:35.440 devil, the work that came upon Adam and Eve. 00:28:36.259 --> 00:28:39.339 We hear from Christ himself in the book of Revelation 00:28:39.339 --> 00:28:42.279 as John listens to Christ. What he hears in chapter 00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:45.220 one is when I saw him, I fell at his feet as 00:28:45.220 --> 00:28:48.559 though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, 00:28:48.700 --> 00:28:51.460 saying, fear not. I am the first and the last, 00:28:51.740 --> 00:28:54.779 the living one. I died and behold, I am alive 00:28:54.779 --> 00:28:58.539 forevermore. I have the keys to death in Hades." 00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:01.640 So Christ destroyed death. He has the keys to 00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:04.799 death, and he destroyed every work that goes 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:09.599 against God. All acts of sexual immorality, all 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:12.960 impurity, all idolatry, that chasing after something 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:16.720 other than God, every hatred that goes against 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:20.400 the love of God, the pure love of God. Every 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:23.000 jealousy or every fit of rage, every selfish 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:26.559 desire and ambition, Christ has destroyed so 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:29.000 that we can be united to him, that there's nothing 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:32.460 standing in our way from being one with God. 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:38.700 As long as we have faith in him. Christ is victorious. 00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:45.000 The reformer said, Christ is victor. Christ is 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.009 victor. They shortened it by one word, they thought 00:29:49.009 --> 00:29:51.369 that was necessary. Use a little Latin in there, 00:29:51.690 --> 00:29:54.730 sound like good theologians. That Christ is victor, 00:29:54.750 --> 00:29:57.529 he has conquered every unclean thing, every unclean 00:29:57.529 --> 00:30:01.109 spirit. Now I know what you're thinking. Well, 00:30:01.109 --> 00:30:04.509 what about the fact that there's still sin? Not 00:30:04.509 --> 00:30:06.750 just in me, but in the rest of the world. If 00:30:06.750 --> 00:30:09.089 Christ has conquered, why is sin still ruling? 00:30:10.170 --> 00:30:13.789 Well, God in his providence for a time has allowed 00:30:13.789 --> 00:30:16.089 the devil to still have some power on this world. 00:30:16.349 --> 00:30:18.930 The devil in Ephesians 2 is called the prince 00:30:18.930 --> 00:30:22.289 in power of the air. He's still a prowling lion 00:30:22.289 --> 00:30:26.130 that seeks to devour. He has not yet been thrown 00:30:26.130 --> 00:30:28.970 into the pit of hell where he will be condemned 00:30:28.970 --> 00:30:33.789 and judged once and for all. But the devil is 00:30:33.789 --> 00:30:36.950 bound. Even though he's not reached the day of 00:30:36.950 --> 00:30:38.630 judgment, we have not reached the day of judgment, 00:30:39.009 --> 00:30:42.289 he is bound, he is limited. He was already limited. 00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:44.559 We see in the book of Job, we talked about this 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:46.819 this morning in Sunday school with the youth, 00:30:47.220 --> 00:30:49.000 that in the book of Job we see that the devil 00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:51.440 is already limited. He needs the authority of 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:54.500 God to do anything. But in the New Testament 00:30:54.500 --> 00:30:56.880 with Christ conquering, he is even more limited 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:02.559 than before. And so Calvin reflecting on Christ 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:05.539 as victor, talking about unclean spirits, he 00:31:05.539 --> 00:31:08.339 says that unclean spirits will combat believers. 00:31:08.819 --> 00:31:12.099 They will ambush them, invade their peace. beset 00:31:12.099 --> 00:31:15.819 them in combat, and also often wary them, rout 00:31:15.819 --> 00:31:18.640 them, terrify them, and sometimes even wound 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:21.980 them, yet they will never vanquish or crush them. 00:31:22.779 --> 00:31:24.940 So as we wrestle with sin and in ourselves and 00:31:24.940 --> 00:31:27.220 in the world, and as we think of Christ being 00:31:27.220 --> 00:31:30.660 victor, we can have confidence that as we wrestle 00:31:30.660 --> 00:31:33.460 against sin, and sometimes even habitual sin, 00:31:33.819 --> 00:31:36.019 that Christ is victor, and as long as we flee 00:31:36.019 --> 00:31:40.559 to him, he will forgive us. Believers are not 00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:42.859 crushed by sin. They cannot be crushed by sin 00:31:42.859 --> 00:31:46.839 or the devil or in any unclean spirit. And so 00:31:46.839 --> 00:31:50.099 they must practice righteousness. This will be 00:31:50.099 --> 00:31:54.240 verse nine. No one born of God makes a practice 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:57.859 of sinning. Now, this is the third time that 00:31:57.859 --> 00:32:00.859 John is making the statement of making a practice 00:32:00.859 --> 00:32:02.740 of sinning and really the fourth time where he's 00:32:02.740 --> 00:32:05.900 talking about not sinning. In any time we see 00:32:05.900 --> 00:32:08.690 something in scripture, that's mentioned three 00:32:08.690 --> 00:32:11.890 times in a row, it's meant for emphasis. It's 00:32:11.890 --> 00:32:15.210 an exclamation point of, you need to focus on 00:32:15.210 --> 00:32:17.809 this right now. This is the most important part. 00:32:17.890 --> 00:32:20.250 If you get nothing out of this letter, no one 00:32:20.250 --> 00:32:24.029 born of God makes a practice of sinning. So does 00:32:24.029 --> 00:32:26.190 this mean we need to deal with this because he 00:32:26.190 --> 00:32:29.529 said this three times? Is John here teaching 00:32:29.529 --> 00:32:33.089 a doctrine called perfectionism, which is this 00:32:33.089 --> 00:32:36.359 idea that believers in this life in this world 00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.319 can be made holy. They can get to a point in 00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:41.500 their older years as they walk with Christ that 00:32:41.500 --> 00:32:44.460 they will not sin. They will not lie. They will 00:32:44.460 --> 00:32:48.259 not be harsh with their spouse. They will worship 00:32:48.259 --> 00:32:50.220 from a pure heart every single time they come 00:32:50.220 --> 00:32:53.259 into worship. That is not what John is teaching 00:32:53.259 --> 00:32:56.039 here. That's not what scripture teaches. And 00:32:56.039 --> 00:32:59.059 I know this because in 1 John chapter eight, 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:02.819 or yeah, 1 John chapter one, verse eight, John 00:33:02.819 --> 00:33:05.279 says, if we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:09.099 and the truth is not in us. So John says that 00:33:09.099 --> 00:33:11.420 if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in 00:33:11.420 --> 00:33:14.200 us. And then towards the end of the letter, in 00:33:14.200 --> 00:33:17.640 1 John 5, he talks about praying for believers 00:33:17.640 --> 00:33:21.819 who battle and wrestle against sin. And then 00:33:21.819 --> 00:33:26.019 as I already mentioned, Romans 7, that even the 00:33:26.019 --> 00:33:28.880 apostle knew that his sin at times made him do 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:31.670 things that he did not want to do. The apostle, 00:33:31.769 --> 00:33:33.269 the one who was meant to lead the church and 00:33:33.269 --> 00:33:35.410 establish the church, the one who I know in our 00:33:35.410 --> 00:33:37.369 own study, we think of, that's the pinnacle. 00:33:37.769 --> 00:33:39.769 If I could just be like the apostle Paul or the 00:33:39.769 --> 00:33:43.210 apostle John, I would be good. Even the apostle 00:33:43.210 --> 00:33:46.869 wrestled against his sin. So John is not making 00:33:46.869 --> 00:33:49.490 a contradiction here, either with himself or 00:33:49.490 --> 00:33:52.829 the rest of scripture, but the practice of sinning 00:33:52.829 --> 00:33:56.470 actually seen in the ESV translation is the correct 00:33:56.470 --> 00:33:59.529 way of interpreting it, of understanding it. 00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:02.539 It's a practice. It's an action that you go after. 00:34:03.099 --> 00:34:05.559 It's a habit. In the Greek, this is actually 00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:09.519 a present active tense. And what that means is 00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:12.619 it's happening now and then it's ongoing and 00:34:12.619 --> 00:34:16.280 it keeps going. It's just like showing up day 00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:18.719 by day to practice football or getting in the 00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:20.940 kitchen day after day to learn how to bake or 00:34:20.940 --> 00:34:23.300 practicing on your guitar day after day after 00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:26.099 day to be a good musician or be a good baker 00:34:26.099 --> 00:34:29.579 or be a good sportsman. It's this practice, it's 00:34:29.579 --> 00:34:32.940 a habit. So no one born of God, no one who belongs 00:34:32.940 --> 00:34:37.739 to God makes a practice of sinning. Now, why 00:34:37.739 --> 00:34:41.400 do we not make this practice? Well, we make it, 00:34:41.500 --> 00:34:44.119 we do not make this practice because we have 00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:47.260 the spirit, the seed of Christ who is living 00:34:47.260 --> 00:34:50.260 in us. It's the spirit who dwells and guides 00:34:50.260 --> 00:34:54.420 and directs us. We do not by our own will and 00:34:54.420 --> 00:34:56.920 our own desires and our own power have to chase 00:34:56.920 --> 00:34:59.739 after God. We have to trust in the spirit and 00:34:59.739 --> 00:35:04.599 he will cause us to chase after God. He will 00:35:04.599 --> 00:35:06.960 cause us to confess our sins and seek forgiveness. 00:35:07.380 --> 00:35:09.599 He will stir us up and praying for one another. 00:35:09.860 --> 00:35:12.539 He will cause us to meditate on the work of Christ 00:35:12.539 --> 00:35:16.780 and he will help us to cease chasing after sin 00:35:16.780 --> 00:35:20.739 like a dog chases after a bone. When a dog buries 00:35:20.739 --> 00:35:22.579 his bone in the backyard, at some point he will 00:35:22.579 --> 00:35:25.099 decide he wants to go back to that bone and he 00:35:25.099 --> 00:35:27.760 will dig hole after hole after hole after hole 00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:31.980 trying to find this old nasty bone that's half 00:35:31.980 --> 00:35:34.460 chewed and it's been in the dirt and the dirt's 00:35:34.460 --> 00:35:37.639 not coming off of it and other animals have maybe 00:35:37.639 --> 00:35:41.300 gotten to it. That is the chase of sin. But the 00:35:41.300 --> 00:35:43.880 chase of righteousness, the one that believers 00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:46.460 make, is one where we stop chasing that bone. 00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:51.599 and we walk with the spirit. Galatians 5 tells 00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:54.880 us, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify 00:35:54.880 --> 00:35:57.780 the desires of the flesh. For the desires of 00:35:57.780 --> 00:36:00.420 the flesh are against the spirit and the desires 00:36:00.420 --> 00:36:03.719 of the spirit are against the flesh. For those 00:36:03.719 --> 00:36:06.980 are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing 00:36:06.980 --> 00:36:10.139 the things that you want to do. We might want 00:36:10.139 --> 00:36:13.280 to sin at times. We might want our own ambitions, 00:36:13.420 --> 00:36:16.119 our own pride to go above everyone else, above 00:36:16.119 --> 00:36:18.889 everything else. but as we walk in the spirit, 00:36:18.909 --> 00:36:23.090 he will help us not to do that. We, as we grow 00:36:23.090 --> 00:36:27.630 into the true vine, as we grow with Christ, the 00:36:27.630 --> 00:36:31.130 spirit will take away every weed that seeks to 00:36:31.130 --> 00:36:36.690 choke us out. And so John brings this to a conclusion 00:36:36.690 --> 00:36:39.929 here. And really just what is evident, and what 00:36:39.929 --> 00:36:42.130 I've already said, it's evident that those who 00:36:42.130 --> 00:36:44.409 belong to Christ will practice righteousness. 00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:47.320 He gives us a marker of believers and those who 00:36:47.320 --> 00:36:49.300 are against believers, unbelievers, the children 00:36:49.300 --> 00:36:52.000 of the devil. By this it is evident who are the 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:54.300 children of God and who are the children of the 00:36:54.300 --> 00:36:59.960 devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness 00:36:59.960 --> 00:37:03.400 is not of God, nor is the one who does not love 00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:07.139 his brother. Those who are children of God, we 00:37:07.139 --> 00:37:10.679 who are children of God, we practice true religion. 00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:14.159 James 1 tells us religion, that God our Father 00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.619 accepts as pure and faultless as this, to look 00:37:17.619 --> 00:37:20.579 after orphans and widows in their distress and 00:37:20.579 --> 00:37:23.519 to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. 00:37:24.440 --> 00:37:27.820 We who are believers, we walk in the love of 00:37:27.820 --> 00:37:30.719 God and as we learn to love God more and we learn 00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:33.559 what his love means, we begin to love others 00:37:33.559 --> 00:37:37.400 out of that. That is pure religion. That is what 00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:40.019 marks a Christian as a Christian. that marks 00:37:40.019 --> 00:37:42.800 a Christ follower as a Christ follower. They 00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:45.539 won't be perfect, but when they're not perfect, 00:37:45.539 --> 00:37:47.599 they will repent and they will seek forgiveness 00:37:47.599 --> 00:37:50.980 and they will seek to make things right with 00:37:50.980 --> 00:37:54.199 God and with others. But then those who do not 00:37:54.199 --> 00:37:56.599 belong to God, even though they might claim the 00:37:56.599 --> 00:37:58.460 name of Christ, if they do not practice true 00:37:58.460 --> 00:38:01.820 religion, they are not of God. If they refuse 00:38:01.820 --> 00:38:04.719 to praise God, they refuse to love God, to build 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:08.110 habits, to take time and daily to read scripture 00:38:08.110 --> 00:38:12.269 and pray and to worship with their family. They're 00:38:12.269 --> 00:38:15.889 not Christians, or they at least need a lot of 00:38:15.889 --> 00:38:20.909 shepherding. And if you're someone here who's 00:38:20.909 --> 00:38:23.630 walking in your sin, loving your sin more than 00:38:23.630 --> 00:38:29.289 Christ, you're mocking God. And I want to encourage 00:38:29.289 --> 00:38:33.530 you to cease from doing that. Whether you have 00:38:33.530 --> 00:38:36.199 once known God and have strayed, Or maybe you 00:38:36.199 --> 00:38:38.239 have never known the gospel. Today is the day 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:41.599 of repentance. The day is the day you stop chasing 00:38:41.599 --> 00:38:45.099 after that bone of sin. That you stop returning 00:38:45.099 --> 00:38:48.239 to the vomit that is sin. And you follow after 00:38:48.239 --> 00:38:51.360 Christ. Because Christ has forgiveness for you. 00:38:51.739 --> 00:38:54.920 He is the propitiation, the sacrifice. Not for 00:38:54.920 --> 00:38:57.039 just us in the room, but for anyone who comes 00:38:57.039 --> 00:39:01.420 to believe. Anyone in this world. And if you 00:39:01.420 --> 00:39:03.639 ask for his forgiveness, he will forgive you. 00:39:05.750 --> 00:39:09.789 Now believers Maybe you're saying I am trying 00:39:09.789 --> 00:39:12.710 I'm repenting daily. I'm doing devotions daily. 00:39:12.710 --> 00:39:17.170 It just seems like it's not working. I Still 00:39:17.170 --> 00:39:20.050 want to return to that side online or when my 00:39:20.050 --> 00:39:22.309 wife talks to me. I still just snap something 00:39:22.309 --> 00:39:25.989 breaks in my brain I don't know what it is Don't 00:39:25.989 --> 00:39:29.929 give up don't stop doing good every time you 00:39:29.929 --> 00:39:32.599 talk with your wife or with your husband Seek 00:39:32.599 --> 00:39:34.679 to change that interaction. Show them the love 00:39:34.679 --> 00:39:37.500 of Christ. Show them the love that the church 00:39:37.500 --> 00:39:41.019 shows to Christ. Put up the right parameters 00:39:41.019 --> 00:39:46.619 on your phone. Seek repentance. Follow Christ. 00:39:46.719 --> 00:39:50.139 Don't grow tired of growing weary. Don't grow 00:39:50.139 --> 00:39:54.539 weary of doing good. Never grow tired. Chase 00:39:54.539 --> 00:39:57.940 after Christ and Christ will sustain you. He 00:39:57.940 --> 00:40:00.519 will give you life and he will forgive you of 00:40:00.519 --> 00:40:03.630 every sin. And so we look forward to the day 00:40:03.630 --> 00:40:06.409 when there is no more sin, when there is no more 00:40:06.409 --> 00:40:08.610 weeping, there are no more tears, there is no 00:40:08.610 --> 00:40:11.329 more sickness, and we can be one with Christ. 00:40:11.730 --> 00:40:14.710 But until that day, we have hope in Christ that 00:40:14.710 --> 00:40:17.210 he will transform us as we look forward to his 00:40:17.210 --> 00:40:18.829 return. Let us pray.