Alright, we're in 1st John chapter
3. I'm going to start at verse 4 tonight, but I do need to remind
you that we were working with two concepts last week and two
concepts that are critical heads of doctrine to understanding
the work of God in salvation. Those two concepts were the doctrine
of sanctification and the doctrine of justification and we're headed
towards the doctrine of justification tonight. But whenever you read
portions of scripture in the New Testament or elsewhere where
you observe the people of God either doing something or being
told to do something, where imperatives are given to the people of God
to do something, then you can safely title the acts of the
people of God in the commands that are given as Principles of sanctification
for instance when God called Israel out of Egypt Into the
wilderness under the supervision of Moses Moses told Israel When
they were in the wilderness for two months in preparation to
receive the law of God He told them I want you to prepare yourselves
by washing and sanctifying yourself because on the third day God
is going to meet with us and That's a process that sort of
runs through the Old Testament. On the third day, God's going
to meet with us. And so Israel had to sanctify
themselves in the wilderness. Now, whatever that process was
on a practical level for those people may be very much different
from you and I today, but in principle, it's the same. They
had to prepare their hearts. They had to prepare their life.
They had to position themselves to meet with God. That was called
sanctification. They had to position themselves,
preparing themselves to meet with God. And thus, God told
Israel to make sure that they wash, that they sanctify, and
that when they come to the mount, not to touch the mount. If anyone
touches the mount, he is to be thrust through. And that was
because God is a holy God. His people are a sinful people,
but God meets the requirements necessary for a sinful people
to have fellowship with God. What God's people do is seek
by faith to obey God's commandments, even though they, we, those of
us who are authentically believers, understand that our obedience
doesn't merit favor with God, but it does affirm a relationship
that is preexistent. Our obedience to God does not
merit favor with God, but it does affirm a relationship that
is preexistent. You won't find one believer in
the scriptures who didn't have a mission from God to perform
and in the context of that mission demonstrate a preexistent relationship. So that'll help you if you are
struggling in your theology with categories like sanctification
and justification and merit versus evidence or demonstrative obedience
that's just rooted in love and faith. So let me say it again
just so you can grasp the concept. When God calls his people to
obey him and gives them certain tasks to perform, very often
the tasks that they are called to perform are merely symbols
and images of something that God has to do to actually bring
about the results that's needed. For instance, Throughout the
old code. God said I am the Lord your God
which doth sanctify you This was something that Israel understood
that God had set them apart That God had washed them that God
had qualified them to be his people They accepted that we
learned this last week is called passive sanctification where
the object is experiencing the blessing of the subject though
the object itself is passive and When God saved me, he saved
me by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which he poured upon me abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord,
this Titus chapter 3 verses 5 and following. So that was an act
on God's part. It corresponds to the Ezekiel
promise of Ezekiel 36, 25 and following. I will sprinkle clean
water upon you and you shall be clean. The action is on God's
part. I am a passive recipient of a
covenant promise that God says he will engage in by which he
will qualify me to have experience and fellowship with him. Are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? God qualifies his people in the
passive work of grace that he imparts to them to make them
acceptable in his presence, even though what he will do for us
doesn't necessarily bring us into an intrinsically impeccable
state. It does qualify us to be in relationship
with God. That's a passive act, Ezekiel
36. But then God will also say to
us, wash yourselves. Purge yourselves as we learned
last week. We saw passive and active statements
in the scripture Concerning the relationship between God and
his people James says in the book of James chapter 4. He says Cleanse your hands ye
sinners Cleanse your hands and we saw that Paul said in 2nd
Corinthians 7 that we are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and of the spirit of developing or perfecting or
maturing holiness in the presence of the Lord. Those were imperatives,
commandments, directives that God gives to us in order to demonstrate
a pre-existing relationship. But those commands are not meritorious
in terms of me meriting righteousness before God. They do, however,
demonstrate the relationship. They demonstrate the relationship.
If God is holy, if God is righteous, then God's people are called
to be holy and righteous too. Demonstratively. Now my holiness
and my righteousness is only a reflection. It's not authentic,
it's not original, it's not intrinsically holy, but it is a reflection.
Are you guys hearing me? I'm pressing this home so that
no one will go away claiming that we proclaim words. at least
not works that merit favor with God, works that demonstrate a
preexistent relationship with God. You know, when you become
born again, you experience a new nature, and in your new nature,
you want to be like God when you become born again. So once
God begins to expose you to his nature, to his character, to
his attributes, the thing that your heart and soul longs for
is to be like God. We're going to see that more
pertinently tonight. But it's not possible for you
to have a relationship with the true and the living God in the
context of regeneration, which is a work of justification that
you and I will talk about tonight. It's not possible for you to
have a relationship with God and not want to be like God.
You guys got that? It's not possible for you to
have a relationship with God and not want to be like God.
This here's the dynamic again of what we've been talking about
for weeks. The worshiper looking to the object that it worships
and desiring to be like the object that it worships. And so if you
worship an idol, you're going to want to be like that idol.
And the Bible plainly says you will become like the thing you
worship. So the children of God who are
true believers want to be like God. So when God gives us exercises,
let's call them exercises. and they are merely symbolic
of what God has to do for us, we are more than glad to enter
into those exercises knowing that these exercises, while they
don't save us, while they don't actually sanctify or justify
us, they do glorify God. Am I making sense? Or else why
would we be baptized upon experiencing the grace of God in conversion,
right? Baptism doesn't save us. but we are not only compelled
to, but we gladly enter into the waters of baptism to demonstrate
to the world that Christ has actually saved me. So it is with
many different things. I'm laying this foundation down
so that as we get into what is called some very difficult language
in first John chapter three, you'll understand what I'm saying.
When John opens up in first John chapter three, he is dealing
with a language that underscores, especially as we were dealing
with verse three, And every man that hath this hope in him or
has this hope upon him, laid upon him, purifieth himself,
even as he is pure. And we worked that last week.
That's where we are today. The man that has the hope of
the gospel and the hope of the gospel we learned last week ultimately
is the resurrection. The hope of the gospel for every
believer is the resurrection. Be very careful. Let me drive
this home again to the hope of the believer is not the change
of his circumstances in his life, The hope of the believer is not
going from broke to being rich, from being single to be married.
The hope of the believer is not necessarily any earthly circumstantial
changes. They may occur and they can occur,
but that's not the hope of the believer. The believer's hope
does not terminate or come to full fruition just because he
or she now becomes prosperous in this world. That is not the
hope of the believer. That kind of hope would set you
up for all kinds of tragedies. because that would be such a
limited hope in light of all of the difficulties that the
world goes through. Let's say your hope was just in case you
still got the cobwebs in your brain. Let's say your hope was
in becoming a millionaire. Don't you understand today that
being a millionaire is nothing? That after taxes, you only got
about $400,000 left. And if you don't know how to
handle $40, you're not going to know how to handle $400,000.
So to be praying for riches is an unwise thing where if you
are praying for riches but are not praying for wisdom, you might
as well not have the riches. Because riches take wings and
fly away. Read Solomon. Solomon said it's
not even profitable for a man to be rich and not be wise. And so he prayed for wisdom and
God gave him riches after he gave him wisdom. So now let's
say God, you prayed and said, God, I want to be a billionaire.
I would still say that you have fallen far short of understanding
the hope of the gospel. Because the same day that you
receive in the mail the affirmation that you have a billion dollars
in your account, now you have terminal cancer. See, when we talk about the true
gospel, we're talking about a gospel that has the capacity through
hope to transcend every human tragedy there is. The gospel
gives you a hope that deals with every human tragedy. is why believers
can lay up in hospital wards and trauma centers and out in
the battlefield and glorify God because of their professed confession
of Jesus Christ while everybody else around them is falling apart.
They're praying for their friends and constituents because the
peace of God which passes understanding is in their heart, keeping their
mind and their soul. And they know that they have
a hope of glory that transcends the tragedy of the moment. Are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? So it's very important to understand
that as John now is beginning to work towards another portion
of scripture, he says this hope that the believer has is first
predicated upon a revelation of Jesus Christ. They had a revelation
of Christ made manifest to them in the gospel. To see Jesus is
to want to be with Jesus. The reason why people don't act
like they're headed to heaven is because they don't see the
glory of God in Christ. That's what the text says. Beloved,
we are now the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be. But we know that when we shall, when we, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.
And everyone that has this hope of seeing him, the appearing
of Christ, because we'll be like him when we see him. Everyone
that has this hope purifies himself. See that phrase purifies himself.
Everyone that has that hope purifies himself. It's a present active verb. Everyone that has
this hope actively pursues purification. You guys got that? So I'm going
to give you the analogy which makes that statement appropriate.
Can I do that? And then we're going to go on to our next point.
You remember the beautiful book of Esther, which is a great,
great, great book of God's sovereignty and providence over all matters.
But Esther is a great type of the church of Jesus Christ. Esther
is a type of the church of Jesus Christ and the king there was
a type of God and and Esther was brought out of obscurity
while the king's Previous wife was put away because of a rebellion
against God and you remember what had to take place before
Esther could be brought to the king and The wedding to be consummated. She had to go through a whole
year of what was called what? purification That purification
process corresponds to the time that you and I are in presently,
having been called by God's grace to be married to Jesus Christ,
but we are in a purification process, getting ready to meet
our husband. Am I making some sense now? That's
the whole point. So Ephesians 5 says that he might
sanctify it by the washing of the water of the world, that
he might present to himself a bride without spot and without blemish. So that's what this whole process
is about. And I just want you to be able to understand that
we're not dealing with inane terms or irrelevant terms. Your
attitude about how you will be when you are before the Lord
Jesus Christ will be indicated by what you understand. Not only
is your reward when he comes, but what is that necessary process
that should take place between now and then? I can tell you
Esther was so excited to go through all of that preparation process
to meet with the king and so you and I should be too. I want
to take you to two more passages to underscore this, Revelation
chapter 7. Revelation chapter 7. In Revelation chapter 7, John
describes for us a portion of the tribulation out of which
many believers come, and here's how he constructs the language,
which is terminology consistent with what we're thinking about
in the area of purification or sanctification or the process
of preparation to meet the Lord. over in verse 13 of chapter 7.
And one of the elders answered and said unto me, what are these
which are arrayed, or who are these that are arrayed in white
robes? And where do they come from? And I said unto him, sir,
you know. And he said to me, these are
they, now watch this, saints, which came out of great tribulation.
You see that? And have what? Washed their robes. See it? And made them white. Do you see it? What was the agency
by which the robes are washed and made white? The blood of
the Lamb. Do you see it? That's the way
the revelator depicts the process of the believer in this world
going through tribulation while she prepares to meet the Lamb.
It's the metaphor of the washing of the robe. Now in this context,
the robe is our Christian perfection. Are you hearing me? The robe
is our Christian profession. It is not the robe of Christ's
righteousness that's given to us by which our standing is perfect
and our standing is complete. That robe is in glory to be given
to you and me when we get to glory. That's chapter six. And
white robes were given unto them that were slain under the altar. Down here we have what is called
a robe of profession. When you and I call ourselves
Christians, we take on a profession, like the doctor wears the white
robe because he's professing to be a doctor with the stethoscope
and a little name tag. So Christians bear the robe of
professing Christ, and this is what Jude talked about, hating
the garment even spotted by the flesh when you reach down to
help sinners out of sin. Here in this context what John
says is the course of the believer in this present world is a process
of constantly washing our robe. Is that true? Now if your robe
is your Christian profession, Doesn't it get sullied sometime
by your in your in interaction with the world by your own Sinfulness
by your own lack of obedience and inconsistency and don't you
and I as we're going to affirm again later on down the line
Have to constantly go to Calvary to have our robes washed in the
blood of the Lamb So we can get on up the next day and start
all over again as we make our way to glory. Am I telling it
true? That's what the text is talking about So don't get all
bent out of shape about the process of purification. You and I ought
to be thankful that God put us in the number, called us out
of Egypt, because we were pigs in a pigsty, and there was no
hope of cleansing in that pigsty. But here we are on our way to
glory. And this here is indicating the active work of the believer
by which he washes in the blood of the lamb. And to wash in the
blood of the lamb requires faith. Go back with me to Revelation
chapter 1. I want you to see verse 5. Here's a passive verb.
Passive statement Affirming the the the process by which the
believer is made clean before God in Revelation chapter 1 verse
5 This is a hallelujah statement and it starts at verse 4 John
to the seven churches which are in Asia grace be unto you and
peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and
from the seven spirits which are before his throne and from
Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten
of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth Unto him
that what loved us past tense remember when you read your Bible
99% of the time the verb love is going to be in the past tense
God's love for his elect is not what God does every day to get
you out of trouble God's love for his elect is primarily what
he did for you 2,000 years ago when you were in the worst trouble
and And his son died on Calvary Street to put away your sins
by the sacrifice of himself. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him
should not what? Perish, but have everlasting
life. And so often when the New Testament writers talk about
the love of God, they're talking about the love of God from a
reflective standpoint, reflecting on the crosswork of Jesus Christ. Notice what it says. unto him
that what? Loved us and what? Washed us
from our sins and what? His own blood. There's the agency.
Got it? Go with me back to our text.
So he washed us once and for all by his justifying work on
Calvary's tree. We're going through a process
of purification in conjunction with the work of the Spirit of
God in our life As we daily walk through this world, the process
of sanctification by which we affirm the preexistent relationship
that we have with God is not to establish anything, only to
affirm it. And now John begins to talk about
other categories that are important. He moves from what the believer
does in hope of seeing Christ. Purifies himself even as Christ
is pure. So the husband is pure doesn't
the wife want to be pure when the husband shows up? It's the
analogy of the bride and bridegroom in their white Righteous status
in preparation to close out on the marriage ceremony verse 4
through 6 now is going to set us up for our next consideration
Saints whosoever committed sin trance transgresses also the
law and For sin is transgression of the law. Remember what John
is doing now? John is telling us that there are those who have
come into the church and have made certain statements about
what salvation is that are not true in terms of biblical theology. Neither are they true in terms
of the conduct of those who say they are believers. So John is
going back to the issue of, I want you to understand that there
are people who say that they are believers in Christ, but
in their practice of life, they continue to engage in a lifestyle
of sinfulness. This kind of person is a transgressor. Are you guys hearing that? Very
important for you to get it. Whosoever is committing sin transgresses
also the law. for sin is the transgression
of the law verse 5 and you know that he was manifested to do
what take away our sins and in him is what so now what he does
is he says that here's what it means to be a transgressors the
individual and this is in the present indicative verb form
whosoever is presently practicing sin is a transgressor of the
law, for sin is transgression of the law. And you know that
he was manifested to take away our sin. Now he adds a caveat
here, Christ came to take away our sins and in him is no sin
at all so that as we contemplate the false claims of the false
teachers and the false prophets who can say that they abide in
him but do not keep his commandments, two things we know is if they
are not keeping his commandments, they're not abiding in him. Because
if they were abiding in Christ, there would be some dynamics
taking place by which they would no longer be in a lifestyle of
sin. Am I making some sense there?
He's getting ready to unpack it that way. I'm tempted to almost
want to apologize for the straightforward language that the Hebrew people
think when they make statements like, whosoever commits sin transgresses
also the law. But that statement is a universal
Absolute that you and I not only know by virtue of being taught
in the scriptures, but we know this by our own experience Don't
we that to commit sin is to transgress God's law? verse 6 whosoever
abideth in him what Now I want to make sure you hear that because
he's setting us up now for the doctrine of regeneration critical
to the reality of sanctification John says whosoever abided them
to him now that's one of the statements that they were making
back in first John chapter 2 right he that said he abided than him
but walks in darkness is a liar truth is not in him he that said
he abides in him but does not keep his word is is a deceiver. And so John is saying, don't
say that you abide in Christ and do not have those accompanying
evidences that affirm that statement. Remember, abiding in Christ is
to abide in God. To abide in God presumes certain
prerequisite factors. Verse six, whosoever abides in
him does not continue in sin. whosoever abides in him, see
that phrase? If I had to work through the
grammar technically there in verse four or verse five or verse
six, if I had to work through that grammar, it would go like
this. Whosoever is presently abiding, that's a present indicative,
a present state of being. In him, if you are abiding in
Christ, you are not continuing sin. You guys see that? You are not continuing in sin. What do you mean transgression
of the law? That'll be explained a little bit more down the line.
He makes this as an absolute and it's critical to know. Whosoever
abides in him does not continue in sin. Whosoever sinneth or
continues sinning has not what? Seen him, neither known him.
I want you to let that resonate now because we'll unpack it down
at verse 9. Whosoever abideth in him continuously
does not continue to sin. Whosoever continues to sin has
not seen him, neither known him. Verse 7. Little children, let
no man deceive you. The one that does righteousness
is what? even as he is righteous. So here
you have again your parallel conjunction. The man that's acting
in a righteous way is doing so because Christ is righteous.
Got that? Little children, do not be deceived.
The one that is practicing righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. Verse eight, he that committed
sin is of the what? For the devil sinned from the
beginning for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that
he might destroy the what? So now what John gets into are
the entities behind the behaviors of people's actions that distinguishes
their origin or their relationship to the entity behind it. John
gets behind the scene and says there is a devil who dominates
the life of people who continue to practice sin. There's a devil
who dominates the life of people who continue practicing sin,
but Christ came to destroy that work. Isn't that what it's saying?
So stay there. What he's doing for you and I
now is showing us the origin or root of a decisive break that
must occur in order for there to be a distinguishing factor
between two categories of people. The work of the devil is to cause
men and women to practice sin. Is that a good proposition? So
this takes us back to the Genesis account. Adam and Eve were walking
in obedience and joined God fully within the context of the garden,
blissful relationship with God. The devil shows up, proposition
is given to Adam and Eve, and they start practicing sin. Isn't
that right? They fall, and the next thing God does is remove
them from the garden. they are now a model of men and
women who live a lifestyle of sin. This is what John is saying. John is saying you know that
this is the work of the devil. Now that's a critical doctrine
in biblical theology. When we're teaching systematic
theology, one of the things I said to the saints is while it is
so very important to understand human nature and understand that
you and I are sinners by nature, it is also very important to
understand that behind human nature and our capacity to sin
is a maniacal entity who seeks to cause the human race to fall
so that it can be damned with him. That maniacal entity is
called the devil. Are you guys following? That
while it is our responsibility and culpability of volitionally
choosing to rebel against God. That's what our parents did.
That's what you and I do. There's still a devil behind
that process who engages his own deceptive work that leads
and perpetuates people in this course of sinning. And he has
to be reckoned with. You have to reckon with the devil.
Even if you knew that you were transgressing God's law, because the light of the law
had come into your conscious and you became aware that the
law said do not lust, the law says do not lie, the law says
do not covet, the law says do not commit adultery, do not commit
a fornication, do not commit idolatry, and everything else
the law says. Your conscious now is illuminated and you are
informed that that was wrong, right? You would be, however,
very much misinformed to think that just because you know what's
right, you have the ability to do what's right. Secondly, you would be even more
misinformed to think that even if you willed to do right, until
this maniacal entity called the devil who has control over the
hearts and minds of mankind is removed out of your way, you
won't have any capacity to freely walk away from that course. Am
I making some sense? So not only do you by nature
transgress against law, the law of God. So when the law of God
is proclaimed and taught, you can say, yes, I'm a transgressor,
but you also are under the influence and control and bondage and slavery
of the devil. So that without him being removed,
there's no capacity for you and I to actually be liberated from
the bondage. Does that proposition make sense?
It's important for you to hear because this is part of biblical
theology. Jesus said in John chapter 8
verse 44, go there. I want you to see this. We'll
come back here in a moment. He was speaking to the rulers of
the church on this wise about this very factor, because very
frequently the Pharisees were coming to Jesus and Jesus was
giving them a proper assessment of who they were, what they were
thinking and why they were doing what they were doing. they will
continue to challenge Jesus as if Jesus wasn't telling the truth.
Now people will do that. People will tell you that you
are wrong when you say that they are sinners, that their hearts
are not right, and that they are slaves of sin, and that they're
in bondage to the devil. They will say, no I'm not, I'm
free to do whatever I want to. That's what they'll say. Now
the Word of God says otherwise, but that's how they will talk
to you. They'll tell you that they're free. Now for them to
say that simply means that they're liars, pathological liars, are
deceived. Because you have to believe that
the Word of God teaches that their nature is prone to sin,
they are a slave of sin, and the devil has authority over
them right now so long as Christ has not destroyed the works of
the devil in their life. Am I making some sense? This
is an inherent component of the Gospel critical to the glory
of God. In other words, the matter of
salvation for a man or woman is not merely a matter of the
flesh. It's a spiritual matter. So John
says this over in John chapter eight, the Lord Jesus speaking
to the rulers, Jesus says over verse 42 of John chapter eight,
Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, you see the
proposition? If God were your father, you
see the proposition? If God were your father, you
would what? see what he's doing he's establishing
a premise by which he is able to prove that their God is not
God the father he's saying that if God was your father as you
are saying then you would love me now watch what he says for
I have proceeded forth from and came from God neither came I
of myself but he sent me here's another indicator that a person
is is in the throes and control of the devil. Why do you not
understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. Do you see that? Ladies and gentlemen,
when you were in the gospel and sexuality class, may this not
be affirmed, that a lot of those young students were having a
hard time understanding that professor's propositions because
they couldn't grasp reference points by which to correlate
his ideas. It was befuddling to them. And
that's how biblical truth is. We learn this in Romans chapter
1 when God gives a person up to a reprobate mind. Biblical
truth can't be put together. They can't put it together. That's
what a reprobate mind is. So they'll say that doesn't make
any sense. That's not logical the young
man arrogant will he would say that's not logical Well, it's
not logical to you because you are in captivity of the devil
Your mind is blinded and the natural man cannot receive the
things of the spirit, right? This is what we're talking about
So you got to understand what Jesus is doing and you got to
understand what's critical to what what John calls? destroying
the works of the devil So here are some of the works of the
devil. When a person is under the control of the devil, he
cannot love God. He does not love God. When he's
under the control of the devil, he cannot agree with biblical
proposition. He cannot agree with it. Because
not only is it nonsensical to him, the word is moronic. But
it's a great against his nature. Notice what he says in verse
44 ye are of your father the what these it you are of your
father the devil. Now here's how he says it is
evidence that they are of their father the devil and the last
of your father what you will do now children of God got to
pay very careful to the dichotomy here because the implications
are very clear when a man has a devil their father they cannot
but do the will of the devil. You got that? Ye are of your
father the devil and the lust of your father you will do. What
he is implying to these rulers is that they are under the dominion
of the wicked one and he controls them and they are slaves to his
will and they can't extricate themselves from that process.
Now that proposition is humbling to the human race. Because you
know what everybody thinks? Everybody thinks that they are
the captain of their own destiny and that they're free within
themselves to make choices volitionally to go one way or the other. But
when we tell them that they are slaves of sin and they are slaves
of the devil, it makes no sense to them. But the evidence is
that they continue to do the will of the devil. Got it? See, Jesus had been talking to
these knuckleheads for three years. And he says, because you
are of the devil, you're going to continue doing the will of
your father. You guys are going to drive me
to Calvary. You're going to kill me. And
you're going to think you're doing God a favor. You're going
to tell the rulers, let his blood be upon us. That's how deceived
they were. Jesus knew that. He knew that
they could not stop in the middle of the devil's agenda to crucify
Christ, abort the plan and say, no, we bow the knee to you as
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Mankind does not freely, volitionally
bow the knee to Christ. Until God changes the nature,
until God removes the power of the enemy from their life, they
cannot agree with biblical truth. Am I making sense? Very important
for you to grasp this. Very important for you to grasp
this. So he says, if you are you are of your father, the devil
and the lust of your father, you will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning and did not abide in the truth because there's
no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. I go back
with me to our text. Of course, what Jesus was saying
is true, and it proved itself to be true, and the apostles
found out that it was true. Church history found out that
it was true too What John is saying here over in verse 7 is
little children Dear children of God let no man deceive you
the one that is practicing righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous
There's the correlating factor he that is practicing sin is
of the devil for the devil sins from the beginning for this purpose
was the son of man and manifested that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Now we're getting ready to get
into the doctrine of regeneration, what it means to be born again,
regeneration. You remember when Nicodemus came
to God, to the Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter three, said he
understood and he recognized that Jesus was an authority.
And Jesus immediately talked about the nature of the kingdom
of God. Remember that? He said, except you be born again,
Nicodemus, you cannot rightly and legitimately affirm kingdom
issues because to affirm kingdom issues requires that you be regenerate. Regeneration means to be born
again. to be born again, to be born
from above, to be born anew. We'll unpack that because the
next couple of verses forces that on us as a concept that
has to be grasped. For this purpose was the Son
of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Now what are the works of the devil? To bring men into bondage,
to deceive them, and to engage them in a practice of continually
sinning until they perish under the wrath of God, right? To bring
them into bondage, to deceive them. He's the liar. He's the
deceiver by which the whole world is deceived. And the whole world
lies in the lap of the wicked one. He's leading them to the
same place he's going. He's going to hell, right? And
he's taking them with him. Now, when Christ intervenes in
this process, What John calls that here is destroying the works
of the devil. Do you see that? And when Christ
died on Calvary's tree, Christ accomplished several things by
which we can call it the works of the devil being destroyed. He destroyed the capacity by
his death on Calvary's tree. to see to it that human beings
end up and perish in hell for all eternity, because the devil
knew that for mankind to sin one time was to send men to hell
for all eternity. He knew that if we violate one
part of the law, we violated the whole law. We got to face
God's judgment. The wages of sin is what? Now,
in order for Christ to remedy that problem, his death on the
cross had to work out a justification by which God's holy law is satisfied,
and the sin and transgression that the devil caused you and
I to commit is now abrogated by virtue of the satisfaction
of divine justice. You guys got that? So one problem
is resolved by the death of Christ on Calvary Street, and that's
the holiness and justice of God. That's the other part of the
gospel that most churches don't talk about today. The devil's
work was to get man to be put in a position where he transgresses
against God's law, knowing how holy God is. The devil knows
how holy God is. In fact, he knows that better
than you and I. He knows that one sin sent him to hell irretrievably. And he knew that if he could
get the human race to sin against God, he would set man up over
against God's holy nature and God can't violate his own justice.
God's not going to compromise his holiness. God can't wink
at your sin. God has to punish your sin. The way that was resolved
before you breathe your last breath and you face the judgment
of God and God threw you in the hill because of your transgression
was that someone stood in your place to bear the wrath of God
against your sin, fix your problem and fix God's problem. Because
God had a problem with you. Am I making some sense? God's
problem with you is that God is perfectly holy, just and right.
And no matter who you are, he has to punish you because of
your sin. Now, this is a totally different God than the God of
this present generation that compromises on all kinds of levels.
But this truth forces us to the doctrine of substitution, doesn't
it? How glorious God is to resolve his own problem against my sin
by giving his son as my substitute. How glorious God is. That glory,
that allows me to see that God is holy, he's righteous, he's
glorious, he's not like you and me. He can't look upon iniquity. All sin is abhorrent to God.
He hates all workers of iniquity. God must punish sin. The wages
of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. I believe all those verses, do you? And the reason I can
breathe comfortably by saying the truth about those passages
is because I saw that it was merited on the person of Christ.
His death on Calvary Street tells me that God will punish sin.
Fortunately, Christ's death was a substitute for me, which resolved
that problem. Now, that was a judicial problem
that got resolved. That was a problem outside of
my person, outside of my feelings, outside of my thinking. I didn't
know that till somebody came to me with the gospel and said,
Jesse, you're a sinner under the wrath of God. And the Holy
Ghost said, yes, believe him. You are, Jesse. And God had to
solve that problem outside of you, outside of your person,
outside of your feeling, outside of your thinking. This is the
work of justification that he does for us, outside of us, somewhere
else in the person of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with your feeling
or thinking. It's called justification. Justification is the work that
God does for us. Sanctification is the work that
God does in us. Propositions are critical here.
Justification for us. Christ died for our sin. Sanctification
is the Spirit of God working within, not only to reveal to
me that that was true, but now to change my nature, to make
me different, to bring me to a place where I agree with God.
Are you with me? Now, when we talk about sanctification,
we're talking about the work of regeneration. You guys got
that? Regeneration. When the scripture says you must
be born again, what he's saying is you must now be given a nature
compatible to God's nature in order to enjoy God. So when Christ
died on Calvary Street to solve your legal problem, you know
how we get letters in the mail and the government says you owe
this much, or IRS sends you a tax bill, or the government threatens
you with this and that, and you have this kind of ominous feeling
hanging over your head. Anybody know what I'm talking
about? You have this ominous feeling. Those are legal issues.
Those are legal issues. those are objective forensic
legal issues out there that you can kind of just you can take
all that mail and stick it in the bag and stick it in a drawer
it ain't going nowhere those are legal issues and this is
what sinners do every day they try to assuage the guilt of their
conscious by taking the legal predicament that they are in
with God and sticking in a drawer somewhere but it's not going
anywhere are you hearing what I'm saying Then you get another
issue, another letter in the mail. You know what that letter
says? That letter says, you just met with the doctor. The doctor
says you have cancer. You're getting ready to die. That's
a spiritual issue. That's a spiritual issue. The
spiritual issue is much more immediate. It's much more personal.
It's much more imminent. The spiritual issue, the spiritual
assessment by God is that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. That we go away from the womb speaking lies.
that we are under the wrath of God and that we are dying and
that because we're natural men, we have an aversion to biblical
truth. Am I making some sense? That
becomes much more of an ominous and nemesis problem because we
can't stick that one in the drawer proverbially and go away. Now
once the spirit of God through the word of God lets me know
my condition, not my position. My position is that I was under
the wrath of God legally. My condition is that I am under
the wrath of God spiritually. That's much more of a critical
problem because I have to deal with that in every aspect of
my life every day now. Am I making some sense? Positionally,
the forensic evidence is that I am legally guilty before God.
I am condemned according to his law. Practically or conditionally,
the spiritual condition of my life is that I am dead in trespasses
and sins and my heart is in rebellion against God. That's a condition. I'm dying. That becomes a much
more nemesis problem. Okay, so God took care of my
legal issue, right? That's my position. But he also
has to take care of my what? Condition. Am I making some sense
now? So the gospel has to come in
power and arrest this death process that's going on in me and put
new life in me. Are you with me so far? This
is where in him destroying the works of the devil, he destroyed
the legal issue, he also is now destroying the spiritual issue.
The spiritual issue. Regeneration is Christ destroying
the spiritual work that the devil wreaked on the human race when
it separated them from God. Remember when Adam and Eve transgressed
God's law? The first thing they did was
run and hide, put on fig leaves. Remember that? And they confessed
that they were afraid. That affirmed that spiritual
condition. When a man or woman becomes born again, the Spirit
of God enters in and gives them new life. Now they cry, Abba
Father. They're not running away from
God. They're running towards God. Are you with me? Are you?
This is destroying the works of the devil. Regeneration is
the sanctifying process that takes place within. This is what
we're dealing with now. And this is critical to the language
that you guys are about to read here in verses 9 and 10. He that
is practicing sin is of the devil, verse 8. For the devil sins from
the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
He destroyed them legally in justification. He destroyed them
spiritually in regeneration. You have to be quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, right? Quickened to be born again.
Verse 9. Here's the work we're getting
ready to get into. Here's the work we're getting ready to get
into. I want you to be able to hear this so that you won't struggle
through this language, because we can really mess this language
up. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. You guys
see that? So we have to work through this
so that you can understand what this means. To take it at face
value presents a problem for us because of the nature of the
translation. to take the text at face value
presents a problem because of the loss of specificity in the
translation. Old King James Elizabethan language
when it comes to verb forms are so ambiguous and so general that
they don't establish or emphasize verb forms specifically enough
for you and I to be able to get the essence of what's being said.
When the word committed is used, the better translation, and many
of your Bibles may have it, is what? Practice, right? Practice. Is there another word? I can't hear it. Is there another
word in your Bible? So now notice what it says. He
that practices sin is of the devil, right? That's verse eight.
Verse nine. Whosoever is born of God does
not what? commit sin, practice sin. That's the Greek verb poie, and
it means to practice. Poie, and it means to practice. Now that gives a different tenor
than to commit, doesn't it? Am I telling the truth? Now you
need to stay there and understand that because it's in what we
call the present indicative. whosoever is presently practicing
sin or he that is born of God does not continue to practice
sin that's literally what it's saying okay are you there are
you with me so far who he that is born of God does not continue
to practice sin now watch this He says, the person that is born
of God does not continue to practice sin, for his seed remaineth,
what? In him. So this is how I would
put this. If I wanted to give you a formula
that will help you grasp what John is saying. This maybe, this maybe will help
a little bit. You have, You have two states of being.
You have the old man, right? And that old man practices what? He practices sin. That's important
to know. And he practices sin and it will
result in death. You guys got that? This here
is his way of life. That's what he is. He is a practicing
sinner. Do you guys see that? It's important
for you to see. Can you guys see that? It's important
for you to see. A transgressor is a practicing sinner. He goes
in one direction. No matter what he does, his life
is on a course of destruction because he is controlled by his
old nature, called the old man, old nature. We can call it sin
nature. so that all he does is practice
sin. It will end in death. The wages
of sin is what? But here's what John says, the
person that is born of God does not practice sin as a way of
life that leads to what? Are you following me so far?
This is important for you to get. Now the old man He practices
sin as a way of life. Now watch this. And there are
no obstacles on that course. He is free to sin. You guys got that? He has one
direction he's headed towards. He does it freely. He does it
naturally. It's part of who he is. It's
what he does. This is what he practices. This
is the old man. This is what John is describing.
This is the state and condition of every human being prior to,
before what? Regeneration. You guys got that? Now here's something that occurs.
when a man becomes born of God that's what the text says he
that is born of God are you ready when a person becomes born of
God he is called in the scriptures a new man right a new man you
guys got that something new takes place he's a new man he is a
new creature and that new man goes in the
opposite direction. You guys got that? The new man
goes in the opposite direction. So you got the old man going
in a direction towards sin. You got the new man going in
a direction towards God, Christ, righteousness, I'm giving you
the synonyms, life, glory. Is that the course of the new
man? Is that the course of the new man? Now if you look at that
scenario, you know what I just created? A conflict. I just created a conflict. This
is what you have to understand. The conflict is there's an old
man whose course is headed to destruction. He is called the
person that practices sin. he is free to practice sin. Romans
6 says when you were slaves of sin you were free from righteousness,
liberated from righteousness, extricated from righteousness.
You had no relationship with righteousness, are you with me?
There was no obstacle, there was no hindrance. You were free,
unfettered. You did it, you loved it, even
though you were told it was destructive, you didn't care. The moment that
you were born again, another entity enters into the equation. This is what John is saying,
watch it. Whosoever is born of God. Now as soon as we take that
concept born of God into the equation, what we are talking
about is now another entity. Not an exclusive entity. There's
only one man who was born of God as an exclusive original
entity without the presence of the old man. That was Jesus. Everyone else who is born of
God is born of God as a new man still possessing the old man. Are you following me? Now watch
this. So the old man is going in a
certain direction and then all of a sudden you become a new
man and you know what happens? You stop right in your tracks. That new man now turns you around
and heads you toward the direction of God. Are you hearing me? You know what we call that? Conversion. Conversion. you hearing me? So the old man had me headed
to hell but once I became born again I stopped. I stopped. I stopped practicing
the sin that was sending me to hell. I stopped living in unbelief. I stopped living in ignorance.
I stopped living in selfishness. I stopped doing things my own
way. There was an arresting of my course. There was a conversion
where now I am headed in this direction. That stop is called
a conversion and it created a conflict because while I am a new creature
in Christ, I still have an old man. Okay, are you hearing me? So I want you to hear what John
says. I'm going to give you a formula so you can grasp this. This is
going to be very important. John says the person that is
born of God in the original language to be born of God is a verb form
that is in what we call the perfect perfect tense. Now the perfect
tense of any verb form means that there was an action committed
that is totally sufficient and complete for the purpose for
which that action was committed. Are you hearing me? That means
if I decided to take a drink of water and I'm going through
the process, when I'm done drinking that water, I have perfectly
drank the water. I'm not in the process of drinking.
I'm not drinking. I'm done. That act is complete. It's perfect. There's nothing
inadequate in it. When a man or woman becomes born
again, They don't have to continue to be born again. And everything
that was necessary for eternal life is inherent in that act
of rebirth. When God makes a person born
again, they are perfectly born again. There's no abortion. There's no abandonment. There's
no death in the process. They are perfectly born again.
That's a one-time, puncticular, punctiliar act where once you
have life, you have it. The beauty of the analogy of
being born again is that the analogy describes
birth in the natural. Whenever a soul is born, conceived,
they are perfectly conceived. Never to ever die again. All souls live forever. You guys
got that? It's called life. It represents
God. He's the living God. When a person is truly born again,
they have the life of God in them. They are a new creature. They're not becoming a new creature.
They are a new creature. God's sperm is in them. That's the word. Sperm. Watch
it. I want you to hear what he says.
So whoever is born of God doth not practice sin. When you look at a person who
has the Spirit of God in him, he is not a person that is practicing
sin like the person who is of the devil. Are you with me so
far? When you meet a person who is
born of God, he is not a person who is practicing sin, this is
the present indicative verb form, like the person who is of the
devil. The two are on two different courses. Are you hearing me?
It's important for you to get that because now John is going
to explain why this is so. See the little word for? It's
a purpose clause. The reason why the man or the
woman or the child or the family or the church is truly that's
truly authentically born again does not practice sin and therefore
does not in their conduct and vocation look like the people
who are of the devil that are practicing sin. It's because
they are born of God. They have his seed in them. Are you following me? Stay with
me. John is saying the only reason you are going in this other direction
is not because you are perfect, but because God has planted a
seed in you. That seed is the incorruptible
seed of the gospel, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,
that arrested you while you were headed to hell, stopped you in
your tracks. This new nature itself, independent
of its relationship to you, called the sperm of God, the seed of
God, that's what it is. This entity all by itself apart
from you can never sin. Are you hearing me? This seed, this sperm, this essence
of God called the seed cannot sin. Now if that's true, this
new entity that enters into my life necessarily stops me in
my track. because I'm going in a direction
by nature of which it cannot go because of its nature. This is what creates the conversion. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So what John is teaching is that the conduct of the people of
God that you see in their life that makes them demonstrably
different than the conduct of the notorious hell-bound sinner
It's not because, and we're getting ready to deal with this, it's
not because they cannot sin. It's because they do not sin. And they do not sin because they're
being led by another entity called the incorruptible seed. Listen to the language. The person
that's born of God doth not practice a lifestyle of sin. For his seed
remains in him, and watch this, he can not what? Now stay there. This here is probably the most
difficult portion of the translation. Because what it implies for those
who don't understand the original language, that the believer,
once he is born again, cannot ever sin. But I'm here to tell you to draw
that conclusion would be wrong grammatically, it would be wrong
theologically, and it would be wrong experientially. Therefore, you have to understand
what the grammar is actually saying. What the grammar is actually
saying is the person that's born of God does not look like the
person that's not born of God. Their lifestyles are diametrically
opposed to each other, not because the person that's born of God
cannot act like the person that's not born of God. He can. yes he can that's true theologically and
that's true experientially the believer who is born of God can
act like the unbeliever who is not born of God are you hearing
me and on occasion he does because he is not totally and uniquely
born of God without the presence of an old sin nature. Are you
hearing me? So that while he is born of God,
he is not uniquely and exclusively born of God, he still has an
old nature to reckon with, so that before him being born of
God, having the entity of the incorruptible seed in him, he
went this way, he loved this way, even though he knew this
way was death, there was nothing stopping him. Once the new nature
entered in, it not only stopped him in his tracks, we call that
what? Conversion. And now he's on a new course of life, but
this new course of life is not like I'm walking now. But it is a new course. Are you
hearing me? It is absolutely a new course. From his conversion, which is
a turning, a repentance and a walk of faith, It's a stop, stutter, struggle, conflict,
battle. Do you understand? But he's still
going in the same direction. You got it? Now here's the grammar,
and the grammar is critical to understand. The text does not
and should not say, whosoever is born of God does not continue
to practice sin, for his seed remains in him. and he cannot
sin, the text should say the person that's actually born of
God no longer practices a lifestyle of sin because his seed remains
in him and he no longer can continue on that same course of sin that
he used to practice. This here is what we call a present
infinitive verb form. Now an infinitive verb form is
a form of a verb that's open-ended and has no termination point
in infinitive like infinite means wide open and what John is saying
is it's not possible when a person becomes born again to continue
endlessly in that same course of sin that he was on when he
was abiding in his own nature absent of the seed. You guys
got that? I'm gonna say it again. It's
not possible for the person who is born of God to continue down
that same endless course of practicing sin as a lifestyle because the
new nature, the seed, has arrested that process. That's the nature
of the seed. The seed cannot be stopped. You're
not going to have the seed of God in you and you have so much
authority over that seed as the old man that you're going to
leave that seed with you to hell. This is why John says it's not
possible for him or her or them to actually be born of God and
not stop, turn around and start heading in a direction towards
God. Now what I have just described
to you is a conversion that implies a process that includes the conflict
that goes along with two natures in one body. You guys got that? So now the biblical terminology
that underscores this is all over the New Testament. The biblical
terminology that underscores this is all over the New Testament.
Let's run through four verses and I'll close. Romans chapter
6. Did I make that clear, saints? Romans chapter 6, verse 1 and
2 will underscore my point. This is Pauline theology, this
is Johanan theology, this is Christ theology. After having
taught the doctrine of federal headship and the fact that we
have been given a righteousness of God through one in the person
of Jesus Christ, justification unto life, we read in verse 1
of chapter 6, what shall we say then? Shall we what? Continue
in sin. There it is, see it? Shall we
continue in sin that grace may abound? See, what John is, what
Paul is dealing with is the question, what happens when a man or woman
receives the blessing of free justification as a consequence
of the work of Christ on our behalf outside of us in that
realm of legal transaction by which God makes us righteous?
Does God making us righteous in the person of Christ leave
us in our old nature so that now we just continue living like
hell as we did prior to our conversion? And the answer is what? And the
answer is no, because the person that justifies you is also the
person that what? Sanctifies you. Now this is true. I'm getting ready to go through
a few more verses and I'll shut it down. You know, we're going to be off
for two weeks now, so y'all going to be starving for the truth for
the next two weeks. We won't be back till January 5th. But I
want you to get this. It is true theologically that
the work of justification was accomplished 2000 years ago for
me by Jesus Christ on Calvary Street so that when Christ said
it is finished in the eyes of God, my legal issues were resolved. Christ was my justification.
I was truly justified 2000 years ago. Are you hearing me? But
that justification had no personal application to me until I was
actually born. Actually living like a sinner
and the Spirit of God arresting me through the gospel making
me to know my justification By the power of regeneration by
which I come to believe and embrace what Christ did for me on Calvary
Street by faith So I'm living a life of a sinner, but in God's
eyes, I'm justified in Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. I I don't
experience the blessings of it until the gospel comes in power.
So it's possible, listen now, it's possible for me to be justified
forensically, legally, outside of myself in the person of Christ
and live all my life right up to the moment where I'm about
to die and then God arrest me by the gospel. Show me my justification
in Christ. Renew me, placing the incorruptible
seed in me, which gives me faith, which gives me the ability to
agree with God, which gives me the grounds and motive to confess
my sins and acknowledge my rebellion and receive Christ as my Savior,
i.e., the thief on the cross. This day, you will be with me
in paradise. Right before he died, He turned. He turned and he publicly acknowledged
that Christ was his righteousness, that his only hope for glory
was the man between him and the other fella, that he was no different
than the other fella other than the fact that God revealed the
glory of God to him and the man that was between him and the
other fella, and God gave him faith to believe that the man
that was between him and them was his justification. He would
not have been able to go into glory except he was born again. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom. God had chosen him in Christ before the world began.
Let him live his whole life in absolute rebellion against God
in order for God to be glorified in the saving of that thief on
the cross before he breathed his last breath. He is able to
save to the uttermost those that come to him by faith. His sanctification
was instantaneous and it was evidential. He believed God,
he saw God's glory, he declared him to be the only righteous
one, he implored him to take him into glory. Remember, the
seed in you is headed to glory. Is it headed to glory? The seed
in you is headed to glory. The man on the other side didn't
have any interest in it because there was no seed in him. The
seed and the thief that believed the gospel says I want to be
with you That's the nature of regeneration You got it. I want
to be with you. I believe you. I know who you
are. You revealed your glory to me I want to be where you
are. Remember me I was a turning right then and there If john
had no other testimony, but the thief on the cross he could still
explain this verse the way we're dealing with it He that is born
of God does not practice sin because his incorruptible seed
is in him and he can no longer live that same endless course
of rebellion against God because his seed is in him. Am I making
some sense? The Romans chapter 6 verse 1
and 2 says, what shall we say then shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer there do you see that? How shall we live
any longer therein? Look at verses 15 through 18.
Look at verse 15. What then? Shall we sin because
we are not under the law but under grace? Here's how he explains
it. Do you not know that to whom
you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are
to whom you obey? See that? whether of sin unto
death or of obedience unto righteousness, see verse 16? Now, now you know
how to take verse 16 and connect it to 1 John 3, 9 and ask the
question, am I operating out of my own nature, absent of a
new nature? Because if I am operating out
of my own nature, absent of a new nature, then of course this verse
doesn't make sense. But if I'm operating out of a
new nature over against my old nature, it makes sense that it's
no longer possible for me to simply yield myself a servant
to sin, since I have now become a servant of righteousness. Is
that making sense to you? Watch it. Know ye not that to
whom you yield your servants to obey, his servants you are
to whom you obey, whether of sin and the death or obedience
and the righteousness. But God be thanked. think that
you were the slaves of sin but you have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you being then
made free from sin that's the conversion being then made free
from the practice ongoing course lifestyle uninterrupted unabated
free from it that's what the conversion is being made free
from sin now notice what it says Being made free from sin, you
became the slaves of what? Do you see it? That's the conversion. And the word righteousness there
can be two things. You became the servants or slaves,
Dulas is a slave, of a lifestyle of righteousness. Or you can
take that word righteousness and see it as a synonym for Jesus.
Christ is the righteous one. when we become born again we
are slaves of Christ just like you can take the word sin and
personify it as the devil so that prior to my conversion I
was a slave of the devil but after my conversion I am a slave
of Christ You guys see what I'm saying? So now as a slave of
Christ, his seed being in me, his seed cannot sin. It's going
to war against my old nature and it's actually gonna have
dominion over it to lead me in the course of which the divine
nature is calling me towards God, but it's going to be a fight. You guys got that? It's gonna
be a fight. So John's language, while it
is absolute, it is also accurate. John's language is accurate.
Whenever you read a Bible verse, I'm done here. Don't ever read
that Bible verse and just try to rationalize that Bible verse
in your own head without taking into consideration everything
else scripture says. You must reconcile the scriptures
with the verse you are reading, or you're going to read into
it wrong conclusions. It's absolute, but it's not comprehensive. The comprehensive meaning of
1 John chapter 3 verse 9 is that What I used to do freely, I no
longer do freely. When I used to sin freely, I
had no impediment, I had no obstacle, I had no resistance, I had nothing,
nothing stopping me. Now I can no longer live that
kind of lifestyle. Why? Because the seed of God
is in me, warring against the old nature. That's Galatians
chapter 5. The spirit is striving against
the flesh and the flesh is striving against the spirit. So, you cannot
freely do what you used to. That's what it means to be born
of god. You guys got that? Thank god for the struggle, huh?
Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for the truth as it is in Christ. Give us over these
next 2 weeks more time to contemplate the reality of this so that we as it leads us to Calvary, and
it leads us to you who are our strength. We thank you for rebirth,
but we also know that we need the spirit of God to walk in
victory on a day-to-day basis. Help us to understand that element
in our walk as well. Forgive us of our sins. Lead
us now to our home safely tonight. Prepare us to worship you on
Sunday, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.