Okay, in 1 John, in the third
chapter once again, and I'd like to read down, starting with the
first verse of chapter 3 and down several verses. It says,
Behold what manner of 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 as he is righteous. And I'd like to look at the several
passages that address not only this whole passage, but verse
five, especially, it says, And ye know that he, our Lord, was
manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. And here, where it says, He was manifested,
or shown, or indeed was here on earth, manifested, and that
take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. And talking about
when He was indeed incarnated on earth, born here of flesh,
and was with us here, but indeed He was manifested to those from
the beginning. He was manifested to Adam, Eve,
to Abel, to all of His church and sheep down through the ages,
He was manifested to them. And not in the flesh per se,
but by the Spirit and by the faith that He instills within
His people. So I'd like to look at a few
verses and a few passages that speak towards this, and we want
to make sure and remember again, or mention once again, that when
these passages that speaks about how we stand in Him, and He is
our righteousness, and indeed has taken away our sin, that
this passage in all of Scripture is not a how to do this, or how
this takes place in something to do, but has been done in Him,
and it is done in Him. And it's not a how book, it's
a who book. and remember that we stand in
Him and all that He has done. There are things that we'll see
in this book and further on that we're admonished to do and to
live like, and those things come about because of life, not because
of doing them brings life. And we'll always see that and
always bring that to mind. But several passages we're going
to look at. I would like to start in the
book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 to start
with. Let me get there. Speaking of him manifest to take
away our sin, manifest for us, 1 Corinthians 15, the first verse,
it says, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein
you stand. by which also ye are saved, if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. and that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, and after that he was
seen of about five hundred brethren at once." Stopping there. But here that was preached and
is taught of Scriptures, how Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, and He was buried and rose again the third
day according to the Scriptures. And this gospel, as Paul's saying
here, was not his take on things. This was the gospel that was
delivered to him, and the gospel that is delivered to us indeed. And then in 1 Peter, In 1 Peter 1, it says, Peter, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you,
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed at the last time." And here, It says here that the elect,
according to the foreknowledge of God in verse 3, blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And again, that
lively hope, you see, is that he is that righteousness that
we have none of, that he, as that lamb slain before the foundation
of the world, that sinless, innocent one that was the sacrifice for
his people, in that we stand. And again, to a lively hope,
it says, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. where we stand in. And then in
the same chapter, verses 18 through 20, it says,
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received
by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God
that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory that your
faith and hope might be in God." And again here, it says that we were redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ, and then was foreordained, verse
20, before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in
these last times for you. And that this was in the everlasting
covenant, that this would take place, and that this is how we
are redeemed, and that, as it says, was manifest in these
last times for you. And again, that word manifest,
I think, has a double connotation. There were those that saw him,
he was manifest in the flesh to them, but he was manifest
to all of his people in the new birth. That's the revelation
of Him and the manifestation of Him to His people by God. I think that word manifest and
reveal the revelation are very closely tied in the thoughts
from those that he indeed is revealed to his people and he
is manifest to his people as who he is. And that it says here
that your faith and hope might be in God and in that, in him. In 1 Corinthians, again, another
place that I want to look at and read a
little bit here. In 1 Corinthians, in the first
chapter, a passage that we go to quite a bit. It says here, starting with verse
27, and above it speaks about the preaching of God's foolishness
to those that are lost and that have Him revealed to them. But
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and the base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught
things that are. That in no flesh should glory
in his presence, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord." And here, again, that being revealed to us, being
revealed who Christ is and what Christ is to His people, As it
says here, He who has been made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Those are things that are manifested
or revealed to His people, that those things are only in Him. They're only obtained by Him
because those are attributes of His. that we acquire by being
covered with that, like that picture in that robe of righteousness,
and how we are seen as righteous, and it speaks about there in
1 John, and it will later on too, that we are the, and we
look at another place, we are the righteousness of God, and
that is As Paul says, I'm in the flesh, and we have a tough
time day by day of making it in the flesh. And how can we
be the righteousness of God? Well, because He is righteous,
and we stand in Him. And that's the only way God can
look on His people is through Him and because of Him. He sees
our Savior, then He sees us in Him. in chapter six also while
we're in First Corinthians. And starting with verse nine,
and when we touched on this passage in days past a bit, but it says,
1 Corinthians 6, starting with verse nine, it says, know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
effeminate abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall
inherit the kingdom of God." And verse 11, and, such were
some of you, but you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God.
And here again that righteousness that manifests for the taking
care of our sin by Him, here it lists those that it says in
verse 9, the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
And then there's the list of all the things that are likened
to that and included in that. And then it says, and such were
some of you, but you are washed, you are sanctified, but you are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. He was manifest for that, and
that taking care of our sin and doing away with our sin puts
us in that light and puts us in that situation. And I think
that that, I don't know that it translates exactly that way
that it brings to mind, but where it says, and such were some of
you, I think all of God's people were
in that category, whether by same instance, in that list there,
but I think the point being that all of God's people, the only
righteousness they have is in Him and because of Him, and that
we all were of that same lump of clay that we started with. in Romans 8. Starting with verse
1. Pretty good spot to start in. Just after Paul recounted by
the flesh what he is able and what we are able to do and what
we are like by the flesh, he says, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them, which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the
spirit of life in Christ, Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." And
this recounts that verse there in 1 John, why He is manifested
for us, for our salvation, for taking care of our sin. And here,
this is a underlined in my Bible. It's
pretty big, pretty big passage here that there's no condemnation
that are in him and stand in him. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh.
And otherwise, that's an impossible task. And as Paul said there
in that other passage, or just above there, in the flesh we
can't we cannot please God. We just can't do it. It's with
us always, but thanks be to God that we are in Him and not in
the flesh. And then, while we're in Romans,
and I didn't intend this to be a study of Romans per se, but
so much in here that does deal with this and does bring us to
this area in the first chapter of Romans, and we're going to
be at several places. But Romans chapter 1, starting
with verse 16, It says, For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The
just shall live by faith. for the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness." And I'm going to stop there for
now, but here, it's a power of God. The gospel is a power of
God. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. And that righteousness of God
is indeed the Lord manifested, Christ manifested to us and for
us in that spot there. And then chapter three, just
turn the page here, Romans chapter three. And obviously taking some thoughts
and passages from the greater text here, but to the point that
we're looking at or points we're looking at, start with verse 21, Romans 3.21. It says above here in verse 20,
the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin, in verse 21. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God." And verse 26, "'To declare,'
I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.'" And here again, this
relates right back to there in 1 John, to our verse in 1 John,
that he's manifest for the redemption of his people and for the taking
away of sin of his people. And especially the spot here,
righteousness of God without the law being manifest, and that
is him. Again, that's not a how, but
a him, and he is that righteousness by God, it says, by faith of
Jesus Christ upon all that believe. And once again, manifested for
our deliverance. In Romans chapter four, a couple
of verses here. Romans chapter 4 starting with verse 20. Speaking about Abraham, verse
20, it said, He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being
fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able also
to perform. And therefore it was imputed
to Him for righteousness. Now it was not written for His
sake alone that it was imputed to Him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up our Lord,
Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification." Again, the means
and how we are justified, how we fulfill the righteousness
of God in Him and only in Him. And as it says there, Let me go back here, just as
it says there in chapter 3 of 1 John, where it says, he was
manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin. And again,
as it says here, manifested for that reason to us and made known
to us, made known to his own that that's the case. in Romans chapter 16. Let me get in Romans instead
of 1 Corinthians. Romans 16. Romans 16 starting with verse
25. It says, Now to him that's of power to
establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus
Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept
secret since the world began, but is now made manifest and
by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith. To God only wise be glory through
Jesus Christ forever. And here it speaks about the
gospel, the preaching of Christ made manifest by the scriptures
of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting
God. Again, saying that the prophets
of old revealed who Christ was. They revealed that those sacrifices
in Leviticus, those sacrifices they were doing was not did not
spiritually do anything for them, but it was a picture of the one
and the only one, the true Lamb of God, the only one that could
do that and could do that. And it was manifested to his
people in those days. There was a brother Abel, when
he sacrificed that lamb, he was acknowledging that, that that's what he and who he
stood in, and it wasn't that lamb that he brought. It was
the doing that by faith in the one that that stood for. And
people think that the men of old time and women of old time
didn't understand what was going on and what they
were speaking of or what they knew to be the gospel at that
time, but they understood a lot. We have a lot of light they didn't
have in that we have the rest of the scriptures, but they weren't
behind in knowing who he was. They had full knowledge and full
assurance and full standing in Him. Back to 2 Corinthians, for just
a little bit, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. On our way to chapter 5, just
mentioning in chapter 3, it talks about when Moses is read, there's
a veil on their heart. There's a veil on the heart. When the Old Testament is read,
the veil is still there. They don't understand. It says,
to this day, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be
taken away. He shall be manifested. And it
says that then then it's revealed that the Scriptures are of Him,
as He spoke to those two on the road to Emmaus and spoke in all
the Scriptures concerning Himself. I don't think He just picked
out a few places that happened to speak of Him. I think it meant
all the Scriptures spoke of Him, and that's what was that was
being brought out, and so that was manifest. And in that way,
He manifested Himself to those two on the road when He was visiting
with them. In John chapter 3, Now, we spent some time in this
passage, more than one time in chapter three early on, about the Lord speaking to Nicodemus
about the new birth. and explaining what that new
birth is, and what it was, and how it came about, and who caused
it to come about. the new birth was from above
and is from above. And so, picking up in verse 18
after that, and a lot of this through here is really mutilated,
I think. In fact, let me back up to John
3.14. It says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but the
world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, But he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world.
And men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
are evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are
wrought in God." Several things in this particular
passage, but here speaking about and remembering back to the first
verse of chapter 3 of 1 John where it says, what love God
has shown us by calling us and causing us to be sons of God.
And keeping that in mind with what it says here, that it says, This is the condemnation,
that light cometh to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light. Everyone, verse 20, that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are
wrought in God. And those deeds that it's speaking
about, in deeds, is the faith that God gives His people to
stand in Him, to stand in Him, and where it says, they that
whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life, and that they believe in the only begotten Son, the one
that's the true Lamb of God. And that, and not as religion
puts forth, do you believe this, everything is fine, but it says
here that, that whosoever believeth on Him might be saved, might
have everlasting life. But it's not, again, it's not
a how to do it, it's a who has done it. And that the one that
has done that by His doing And as he talked to Nicodemus, this
is born from above, this is revealed or manifest from above, not from
a learning standpoint, not from just knowing. And Nicodemus knew
the points of the law because he asked him, he said, are you
a master in Israel? You don't understand this? If the Spirit
doesn't reveal it, it's not revealed. And the same with the Lord. When
He manifests it to His people, it's manifested. If it isn't,
then it is not. It has to be from above. And
then one more spot before we close, in the book of Hebrews, Again, chapter 12 and a couple
of verses of that, and I have to go back to that again. Again,
as we say, we have to keep in mind who is spoken of. It says,
Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us. looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God." And that is, that's
where, as has been said many times, the object of looking
into the scriptures is to getting right to the point of who it's
speaking about. and getting it on the path to the Lord Himself
and that all we have or hope to have is in Him and nowhere
else and looking to Him. And then, one more time just reading that Verse 5 of 1 John 3, 5. You know that he was manifest
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. In him, whoever
abideth in him sinneth not. Whoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. But he was manifest in their
day in the flesh, and much before and much after spiritually manifested
and revealed. With that, once again, we'll
say be free. Thank you for your attention
and being here today.