I'm ready. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles with the message, I'll be preaching from 1 John
3. John, the Apostle John's first
epistle, chapter three. And I've been going through this
little book of 1 John, showing forth the truth of real salvation
that John is dealing with. He'd been dealing with people
who had left the gospel, people who claimed to be Christians,
but then because of persecution or some type of pressure, They
left the gospel and turned completely against Christ. He dealt with
them over in 1 John 2 and verse 19. And when he said this, they
went out from us, but they were not of us. In other words, these
people who were with true believers in the fellowship of faith, they
went out. And the connotation there is
they left the gospel. They turned against the gospel. They turned against Christ. And
he calls this the spirit of antichrist up in verse 18. But verse 19,
they went out from us, but they were not of us. And then he says,
for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us. If they had truly been saved,
truly a part of the spiritual eternal fellowship of the father
and the son with the church, truly say, they would not have
gone out. And it says they would have continued
with us. He said, but they went out that they might be made manifest
that they were not all of us. So they're going out and leaving
the gospel and turning against the gospel, turning against Christ. That's why John calls it antichrist. That's what antichrist means.
It means against Christ. And so they went out, they turned
against Christ, they turned against the gospel, they turned against
the true people of God, they denounced what they formerly
had professed to believe. But it's important, and I'm going
back over this, we're gonna get in 1 John 3, but the reason I
wanna go back to this is I want you to keep this within the context
of what John is saying. And so, He brings this out, number
one, showing that if you are truly saved by the grace of God,
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have ever been truly born
again by the Spirit, regenerated and converted, called into the
kingdom of God, that you cannot lose that salvation. Now there
are whole denominations who call themselves Christian, who claim
you can be saved and then you can lose that salvation. You
can be lost. But that is not Christianity.
That's not what the Bible teaches. I know they go to certain verses
of scripture. I've dealt with those verses
here on this program and what they're really talking about.
And the Bible talks about some people can come so close to giving evidence of being believers,
but they're not truly believers. And if you ever leave it, you
never had it. And so I made this statement
that if the Holy Spirit has convinced you by the power of God, convinced
you of the truth of the gospel of Christ, You cannot deny it,
you cannot ignore it, and you cannot leave it. And that's what
John says in the following verses here after 1 John 2, 19. Verse
20, he says, but you have an unction from the Holy One and
you know all things. Now that unction from the Holy
One is the power of spiritual life given to sinners through
Christ, the Holy One. Christ sends the Spirit. You
see, that's the thing of what the Bible speaks about the death
of Christ. If Christ died for my sins, then
my sins cannot be charged to me, and His righteousness is
charged to me, imputed to me, and therefore I must have life
given to me at some point in time. when it pleases the God
to reveal Himself in me by the power of the Spirit under the
preaching of the gospel. And if that takes place, then
there's no way you can leave it. Now that's what John is dealing
with in the rest of these verses here in chapter two and chapter
three. He's talking about abiding in Christ. Those who are truly
saved will abide in Christ. They have a hope within, and
that's the title of this message. And I'm taking that from 1 John
3, 3. He talks about every man that
hath this hope in him. And it's a hope that we have
in Christ, but it's also a hope we have within, within our hearts,
within our minds, within our affections, within our wills,
within our conscience, the very inner person of who we really
are. And so as he goes through here,
He talks about righteousness. We'll be talking about that again.
He says in verse 29, listen to this. We'll read verse 28. This is 1 John 2, 28. And now
little children abide in him, continue in him. Now this is
an encouragement. Now, somebody might say, well,
if there's no way we can leave him or lose salvation, why does
John have to tell us to abide in him? Because we're human beings
who are sinful and we need to be reminded. It's like little
children. They have their parents and they
will always be their parents' children, but they have to be
reminded sometimes who they really are, who mom and dad is, who's
in authority. and what they really have. And
that's the way God does his children. And so he says, little children
abide in him that when he shall appear, that's talking about
his second coming, we may have confidence and be not ashamed
before him at his coming. You're familiar maybe with the
parable of the ten virgins, the five virgins that had no oil
in their lamp. They had a profession of faith,
but no Holy Spirit conviction, no true faith, no true repentance.
and then the five foolish virgins and the five wise virgins who
had had oil in their lamps and they trimmed their lamps and
that's talking about the work of the holy spirit and when the
bridegroom came the five foolish virgins wanted to get in the
dorm they could And so, this is what John's saying. We don't
want to be ashamed when he comes, and he says in verse 29 of 1
John 2, if you know that Christ is righteous, you know that everyone
that doeth righteousness is born of him. Now, what is it to do
righteousness? Doesn't mean that we keep the
law perfectly, because we don't. Even if we're saved by the grace
of God, we are still sinners saved by the grace of God, and
we still come short in our best efforts to obey. The perfection
of righteousness, which is in the law, can only be found in
Christ, the Lord our righteousness. And that's His righteousness
imputed to His people. But doing righteousness has to
do with believing in, following, and resting in Christ. For righteousness,
as I quote all the time, Hebrews 12, 2, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. And so in verse one, he says,
of chapter three, behold what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Now
keep this in mind. What's he talking about? He's
talking about who the true children of God are as evidence, not only
by their believing the truth, but abiding in the truth. They will continue in it. As
I said, you cannot deny it, you cannot ignore it, and you cannot
leave it. So if I'm truly a child of God,
I will, by the grace of God now, not by my own power, but by God's
preserving power and His faithfulness to keep His promise, He will
preserve me in the faith, I will continue abiding in the faith. And so, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God, children of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not because it knew him not. The world does not know what
a true child of God is and is not. The world judges unrighteously. The world judges by outward appearance. Christ told the Pharisees, he
said, you do indeed appear righteous unto men, but inwardly you're
not. And so even unbelievers can appear
to be good people, righteous people, but they're not in God's
sight. And so the world doesn't know
us. The world hates the truth. Understand, I hear people all
the time say, well, my living my life is my witness. Well,
not according to the Bible. Now, my living my life should
be consistent with my profession. I should be an obedient servant
of Christ. But people cannot tell what a
Christian is by just looking at their lives. They may be kind
and loving and charitable, all of that, but unbelievers can
do that too. The evidence of a true Christian
is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which brings to repentance of
dead works and leads to perseverance in the faith. What I believe
today as the gospel truth, my salvation by the grace of God
in Christ, I believed it 40 years ago and have believed it all
along. Now that's no testimony for me
to glory. That's nothing for me to boast
in because I know this, two things. If God were to judge me at any
time based upon my best efforts to serve Him, I'd be damned forever. That's stated in passages like
Psalm 130 in verse three, which says, O Lord, if thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? I'm a sinner saved
by grace. And so you need to understand
that. And it's no point for me to glory
in because if it weren't for God's preserving grace to keep
me, save me, keep me, and bring me to glory, I will fall a thousand
times. but He will not let me go. And
He has sent His Spirit to indwell me. So look at verse two, 1 John
3. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, children of God. Don't have to wait for that.
That's not something we achieve through our works. It's not something
that we earn our way into His family. But we're children of
God by the grace of God and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it
doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he
shall appear, when Christ shall appear, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is. We will then be sinlessly perfect
within ourselves. Now here's the verse I wanted
to get to. Look at verse three. And every man that hath this
hope, now understand what he's talking, this hope in him, purifies
himself even as he is pure. Now let me explain what I believe
this verse is talking about. Every man, therefore every person,
every man, woman, and child, who's been born again by the
Spirit, chosen of God before the foundation of the world,
justified in Christ, remember that means forgiven of all of
our sins based on a just ground, which is the blood of Christ,
declared righteous in God's sight by Christ's righteousness imputed. Every sinner for whom Christ
died on that cross. All right, that's who he's talking
about here. Every man, every person that
had this hope. What hope? The hope of eternal
salvation. The hope of all blessedness,
all grace, all glory in Him. That's in Christ. My hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name,
on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. I have no hope in myself as far
as my works, my efforts. I cannot depend upon myself.
I still have sin within me that contaminates everything I do.
There's a warfare within me. But my hope of winning that warfare
is the fact that it's already won by Christ, who is my hope. Now the word hope here means
assurance. It's the assurance of salvation
based not upon wishful thinking, not just simply based upon this
is what I want to happen, but based upon the sure foundation
of God's Word. The hymn says, how firm a foundation,
ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent
Word. You see, my hope is built not
upon my feelings, not upon my circumstances, certainly not
upon my do-gooding, or morality or sincerity or dedication, my
hope is founded upon Christ and His blood and righteousness.
Now let me show you that over in Hebrews chapter 6. This passage
here at the end of Hebrews 6 is talking about Abraham to whom
God made various promises to, verse 13. He says, for when God
made promise to Abraham, you see that? Now, God made Abraham
a lot of promises. But the promise that he's speaking
of here is the promise of eternal life and glory. It's the promise
of salvation, eternally. And when God made that promise
to Abraham, because, look at verse 13 of Hebrews 6, because
he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. Now what does that mean? Well,
that means God put His own reputation, His own honor, His own glory
on the line to engage and fulfill the promise that He made to Abraham,
and that's the same promise He makes to all of His chosen people,
all of the elect. And so look at verse 14 of Hebrews
6, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I
will multiply thee. Now that's talking about the
spiritual seed of Abraham, that's made clear. And verse 15 he says,
and so after he had patiently endured, that is Abraham, he
obtained the promise. Now this endurance is the same
as this abiding in first John three, two and three. Abraham
abided in the faith. Now we know if you look at Abraham's
life that he failed many times, just like all of us. I have failed
many times. I've made promises and determinations
that I did not keep, either because they were foolishly made or I
didn't foresee the obstacles or couldn't provide the means,
but I've failed many times. I've been put through trials
and I never feel like I do well in a trial, but God brings me
through. And on the other end of the trial,
I come out thanking him for his grace and his goodness and for
Christ. And that's what Abraham do. He
endured and he obtained the promise. He got what God promised. Abraham
now is with the Lord. And he says, now look at verse
16. This shows you what he's talking about here. He says,
for men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. When human beings come together
and make a covenant, an agreement, a contract, and he says in these
verbal contracts, they swear by the greater, someone or something
greater than themselves. And so an oath of confirmation
is then that ends all the debate, all the arguments, all is settled. They make that oath and they
swear by something or someone greater than themselves. and
it's settled. So look at verse 17. Wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise,
now who are the heirs of promise? His elect, believers, all right? And what does God wanna show
the heirs of promise? The immutability of his counsel. The immutability, the unchangeability
of what God has devised and worked and promised. Malachi 3.6, he
said, I am the Lord God, therefore you, I change not, therefore
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The sons of Jacob there refers
to the elect of God. Jew and Gentile who are redeemed
by the blood of Christ, justified by his righteousness and brought
to faith in Christ. Lamentations, I think it's three,
verse 22. I may have the verse wrong there.
But it says, it's of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. They are new every morning, great
is thy faithfulness. It never changes. So the immutability
of his counsel, God's gospel doesn't change. The gospel that
Abraham believed, by the grace of God is the same gospel that
every believer today believes by the grace of God. Doesn't
change. The promise doesn't change. And
he says, he confirmed it by an oath. Now what God swore, that's
what he's saying. And here it is, verse 18. That
by two immutable things, two things that cannot change, in
which it was impossible for God to lie, God cannot lie, we might
have a strong consolation. Now that's the hope. The strong
consolation, comfort and assurance, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us. Now what is the hope that
is set before us? First of all, listen to this.
He said by two immutable things. Now what is that? God's promise
and God's oath. The promise doesn't change, and
God's oath does not change. And what did he do? He swore
by himself, because there's none greater than God. You see that? There's no one greater than God.
It's impossible for him to lie, and he swore, and he engaged
his glory, his honor, his reputation to fulfill this promise that
cannot change. So it's his promise and his oath. God has engaged himself, his
immutable self, to fulfill this immutable promise. And this promise
is all, these promises of salvation and eternal blessedness and glory
are all conditioned on Christ, who is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He cannot change. Second Corinthians
1.20 says that all the promises of God in Christ are yea, and
in him, amen. He is the surety of those promises. And so it says in verse 19 of
Hebrews 6, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the
veil. Talking about Christ coming into the presence of God with
his own blood. whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. And that's an eternal order,
priesthood. I won't go into all that right
now. But go back to 1 John 3.3. Now every person that has this
specific hope, the hope of the gospel, the hope of the cross,
the hope of God's grace, the hope that is found in him, in
Christ, okay? Not in myself, that is the assurance
of that hope. If you have this hope in Christ,
he purifies himself even as Christ is pure. Now this is the hope
within. The hope within has to do with
the Holy Spirit in his work of the new birth, bringing a sinner
to see his sinfulness, his utter helplessness, his utter depravity,
the fact that there's no hope of salvation within himself,
no hope of righteousness by his works. Again, that if God were
to judge him based upon his best, he would be damned. And to bring
that sinner out of that despair of no hope within himself to
find his hope within Christ. Looking to Christ. Resting in
Christ. Christ is my salvation. It is
all by His obedience unto death, His work, His death, His blood. My sins are forgiven. Totally. Even sins in the future that
I have not yet committed by the blood of Jesus Christ. They're
not forgiven based upon what I do. Preachers will tell you,
say, well, you can't be forgiven until you confess those sins.
Well, I have confessed them. I've confessed all my sins, but
that's not the basis of forgiveness. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin, and we confess that. And when we confess we
have no hope in ourselves with our best works, we confess all
of our sins. And then that we have no hope
of righteousness by our works. I cannot bring myself into a
right standing with God by my best efforts to serve Him, to
love Him, to love others. My right standing with God is
in Christ Jesus, the Lord, my righteousness. That's my hope.
My hope is in Him. And that's the hope that the
Holy Spirit has worked within me so that I know that my sins
are washed away. And so back here in verse three,
he says, and every man that hath this hope in himself purifieth
himself, even as he is pure, even as Christ is pure. Now how
did Christ, how was Christ made pure from sin? Christ was never
a sinner. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians
5.21 that he was made sin, but not a sinner. Sin never contaminated
His person. Sin never entered into Him in
His mind, in His affection, in His will, in His conscience. Sin never influenced Him as far
as what to do and what not to do. Christ was and is the perfect
God-man who never sinned. His blood is the spotless blood
of the Lamb, a spotless Lamb. Yet He was made sin. Now, how
was He made sin? God charged the sins of His chosen
people to Christ as their surety. God chose a people, gave them
to Christ, made Christ their surety, and imputed, accounted,
charged their sin debt to Him. That's how he was made sin, by
the imputation of the sins of his elect to Christ. And that
was a legal application, not an internal conscious one. Christ
never had a sinful thought. never dreamed a sinful dream.
But when He went to the cross, He died and purified Himself
in a legal sense by putting the sins away and paying the sin
debt. And that's what we realize in
this hope. Christ has paid my sin debt.
They cannot be charged to me. His righteousness is mine and
I have hope in Him. And that's the hope within me.
That's the whole thing. That's how we purify ourselves,
by looking to Christ, who is our hope. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word.