If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to 1 John, 1 John chapter 2. Our text will be in 1 John
chapter 2. I've entitled this, The Commandments
of Christ. The Commandments of Christ. If
you look at 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3, the apostle writes, and hereby, Hereby
we do know that we know Him. Do you desire to know that you
know Him? Is it not the believer's desire
to make our calling and election sure? If you go through the book
of John, you'll read this quite often, that you may know. John
is intent that you know something, that you know you know Him. Because
to know Him is what? To have eternal life. If you know the Son, you will
have eternal life, and hereby is the evidence that we know
Him. Listen, if we keep His commandments, He that saith, I know Him, as
a lot of people say, I know Him. Matter of fact, you can go on
the street tonight, and you can find a bunch of people, and I'm
asking you, do you know Christ? And they can say, yeah, I know
Christ. How easy is that to say? Isn't it? Can anyone say that?
Yeah, you can get a little child to say it. They do it all the
time, get little children. Do you know Jesus? I know Jesus.
You can get them to say it all you want to. He that saith I
know him, listen, and keepeth not his commandments is what?
What is he? He is a liar, and the truth is
not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in
him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we, we
are in him. He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself also to walk even as he walked. In the beginning
of this book, John makes no bones about his purpose. He tells us
the purpose. In the beginning of this chapter,
he says, look, I'm a witness. That which was from the beginning,
we have heard and we have seen with our eyes. That which we
looked upon, we handled with our hands. What? The Word of
life. They saw Christ. They heard Christ. They were
visible, tangible witnesses of Jesus Christ. And they said,
this life, this eternal life was manifest and we've seen it.
We bear witness. We show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifest unto us. And
verse 3, he says, that which we have seen and heard declare
we unto you that... You see, now he's telling you
his purpose. That, this is the reason I'm declaring this unto
you. That, what? You may have fellowship
with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write unto
you, that your joy might be full. There's a twofold purpose in
it. Twofold purpose. That you have fellowship with
us. Who is us? With the apostles. Not only the
apostles, but with the Father and with the Son. that you might
have fellowship with God, that you might be accepted of God,
that you might be received as a child of God. And then what? Your joy might
be full. Do you suppose in heaven that there's
anybody weeping or crying? Do you suppose anybody is lacking
any joy? Today, we are lacking joy. Anybody
else lacking joy? Because I'm telling you what,
my joy goes up and down and up and down, and I can't tell you
if I'm going to be happy today or sad tomorrow, I don't know.
But John's right in this, so your joy might be full. What is more joyful than to know
I have fellowship with God? And God has fellowship with me.
We have communion together. that your joy might be full. John says that we have sinned. He says this,
that God, this is His message, look at verse 5, and then this
is the message which we've heard of Him. "...And declaring to
you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." What
is He saying? This is the message we heard
from Him, we touched and handled, that God is holy. God is without
sin. And if you're to have fellowship
with God, listen, you too must be without sin. God is holy and
in Him is no darkness at all. He's light, He's perfect. Now
listen, if you say you have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,
what? Will I? If you are not as holy as God
and you say you have fellowship with God, listen, you lie. You
must be as holy as God to have fellowship with God. God's not
going to lower His standards so that you might have fellowship
with Him. He is holy. But what does John
conclude here? He says, look, But if we walk
in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with
one another, listen, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son,
cleanses us from all sin. Now He's giving you, He's giving
the, the, the, uh, uh, word escape, He's giving you how it is that
you might have fellowship now. You say, look, if we say we have
no sin, you're, you're a liar. You know, you have sin. If we
say we have fellowship but walk in darkness, you lie. But if
we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from
what? All sin. See, He's confessing here that
we have sin. So how is it that a sinner might
have fellowship with God? Here it is, that the blood of
Christ cleanseth us from all our sin. This is how we have
fellowship. is by the blood of Jesus Christ. And by faith we
see that the blood alone cleanses us. And by this we have fellowship. So in the last verse of chapter
1, John reminds us again that even though we have fellowship
with God, we still have what? We have sin. These last verses. If we say we have no sin, what?
We deceive ourselves. Truth's not in us. If we confess
our sin, this is our hope. That He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
And if we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and that His
Word is not in us. Believers, we have seen the wonder
of God's grace and been given a new nature that is created
in us that is true holiness. We recognize that this old man
is still just as corrupt as it was before. We recognize this. Therefore,
we must constantly be what? Confessing our sin. Seeking His
mercy and forgiveness. And this is our hope, is that
we have it. If we have fellowship with God,
it's because of the blood of Christ. And not only is this
a one-time fellowship, this is a constant perpetual fellowship,
even though we have this old nature, yet we still have this
promise. If we confess this, He is faithful, faithful and
just. I like that. He's not sweeping
these sins under the rug. He's not doing this unjustly. He is justly and faithfully forgiving
us our sins. And John, therefore, in chapter
2, verse 1 of chapter 2, he is so
overwhelmed with love. He loves his flock so much, he
says this, my little children. He uses that little term, my
little children. This is the love of a pastor
to those to whom Christ has put in His charge to feed, and this
is the desire of every pastor. Listen to me. My desire for you
is this. Sin not. Sin not. It is our desire. It is a desire for myself as
well as a desire for you, my little children, a term of affection. He is beseeching them as a father
would beg his son. Sin not. Brethren in Christ, I know that
you and I still struggle with sin. Though we have fellowship
with God, though He does cleanse us from all our unrighteousness,
though He constantly forgives us our sin, we struggle with
sin daily, constantly struggling with the old man. Therefore, let us fight the good
fight of faith. We should always be on guard
against the old nature of sin. Paul says, let not sin reign
in your mortal body. Mortify the deeds of the body. We as believers in Christ, we
have seen what sin costs. Have we not? What did our sin
cost our Savior? Do we not see the great pain
and sorrow and agony of Him upon the cursed tree? How could then
we who are free from sin, free from the penalty of sin, free
from the power of sin, How can we who are free from sin live
any longer in sin? Sin not. How can we who are free from
sin live any longer in sin? How can we who profess faith
in Christ feel comfortable living in sin? We can't. Believers cannot
feel comfortable living in sin. We should not and we cannot.
I know this, if we had our brothers, we would be without sin. We would
live without sin. Little children, I tell you,
because I love you, sin not. Flee from it. Flee from it. As Joshua, I mean, sorry, as Joseph
fled Potiphar's wife, You remember, she grabbed that
towel and he left the towel and everything. Flee sin at all costs. Because I'll tell you this, whatever
the sin is, it's not worth the pain. It's not worth the misery. It's not worth the sorrow. And so our desire is that you
sin not. It's the desire of every pastor.
But we know this, as John did, I know it's not possible for
you to not sin. We tell you, sin not. I tell
myself the same thing, sin not. But we know this, that because
of the residing nature, the old man of sin that still remains
in us, It is not possible that we could ever be free from the
presence of sin until we are free from this mortal body. I like the way that Brother Todd
always puts it, you cannot not sin. Sin surely is mixed with
every part of our worship tonight, is it not? Can we ascribe anything
we've done tonight as holy without sin? No, sin is mixed with all
we do. Therefore John gives us this,
and if any man sin. If any man sin. This word if
is better translated when. Read it like that. And when any
man sin. It's not a matter of if, is it?
It's just a matter of when. When any man sin. Although believers
Just because it's impossible for us to remain from sinning,
is there any part in the Word of God that excuses it? Can you
find any excuse for sin? No. God does not excuse it. Therefore, Paul said, I pressed
for the mark. And so that God does not excuse
us in this matter of sin, but He does give us who are weary
of striving comfort. I'll tell you this, to sin not
is not an easy thing, is it? It's a wearisome task to struggle
and fight against your own nature constantly. But here's our comfort
in this. Here's our refreshment. A refreshment
in this. When any man sin, what? We have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We
have a constant intercessor. One who is constantly mediating
and standing between us and God. I believe it's raining outside.
Don't you? I can hear it. Do you not see that there is
something standing between us and the rain? It's a roof. It
is standing between us, so when we put out our arms in this building,
do you feel the rain? No. I know it's out there. But
I don't feel it. Something's standing in its way.
It can't reach me. You think of the justice of God,
the wrath of God. We know God is holy and all sin
must be punished. But see this, Christ is our refuge. He endured the wrath of God in
our stead. Therefore, He mediates. Constantly
between us and God. We not only have the blood of
Jesus Christ that ratified the covenant of grace, but we have
the person of Christ constantly interceding for us. I think of
this, when a man writes out his last will and testament, that
will is not in effect until he dies. But as soon as he dies,
that will is ratified. It goes into effect. It has power
after his death. But we know this, when you write
a will and you die, how much power do you have to make sure
that's done? Now you pay attention, my brother
J.D. Farmer, he had told me on several
occasions, when I die, I want you to preach my funeral. He's indicated, he said, I've
put it in my will, is what he told me. I've not read the will,
I don't know if he did or not, but that's what he confided in
me. But you know what? His family
didn't even have a funeral. They didn't want to hear the
gospel of Jesus Christ. So he had no power to make sure
his will was accomplished. Christ is not that way. Christ's
will is that his people should be saved. He justified, He died
for our sins. He finished our salvation. But
not only that, He is risen again to make sure it's being done. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And therefore, all that He redeemed
shall be called justified and glorified without exception.
Why? Because we have an advocate.
We have an advocate with the Father when we sin. The righteousness
of the Son of God, the righteous Son of God stands before the
Father and shows His marks of atonement constantly. Not only this, but John tells
us that He is not only our advocate, but our propitiation. In verse
2, he says, and He is the propitiation of our sins. And not ours only,
but the sins of the whole world, all of his elect, wherever they
are in the world, he is their propitiation. This has to do
with the mercy seat, remember, the mercy seat during that great
day of atonement. Remember that the sins were confessed
on the head of the scapegoat and he was carried away and the
blood was shed. The blood was shed. This picture
is Christ. Our sins were imputed to Christ. And He bore them on Calvary's
tree and God in justice killed Him in our stead. The blood then
was taken into that most holy place and sprinkled on the mercy
seat. Even so, Christ took His own
blood before the Father as our atonement. Now, how do we know that Jesus
Christ's blood was accepted? How do we know that our atonement
was made? Well, the same way that those
people in Israel knew that the atonement was accepted, the priest
came out. If the priest didn't come out,
what happened? It wasn't accepted. But the priest
came out. And everybody cheered because
it was accepted. Christ came out of the tomb. It was accepted. Therefore, we
have an adoration with the Father. You see, this is the comforting
part of this. Sin not. Yes, I don't want to sin. I despise my sin. What do I do
when I do sin? Oh, it's okay. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the
propitiation. He's not just your advocate.
He is also your propitiation. He is your atonement. He is your
constant, perpetual atonement for sin. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Isn't it a joy? John says that
your joy might be full. Isn't this a joy that God cannot
demand twice payment? Is that not a joy to know that
God is so holy, so just, that he cannot demand payment at Christ's
hand and then demand it at your hand. That's the most joyful
thing in the world. That my sin will never come back
on me. Why? He is my propitiation. My propitiation. Jesus paid it
all. How do I know? The tomb is empty. God is satisfied with his offering. You know that my resistance to
sin has nothing to do with my propitiation. My resistance to
sin is because I have a new nature that despises sin. I resist sin. I don't want sin. But I know this, when I do, I have someone to intercede.
I have someone who is my propitiation. Therefore, Jesus paid it all. What's the second half of that
response? All to him I owe. Is that not true? What do you
not owe to the Son of God? We owe everything to the Son
of God. So John now in verses 3 through
6, he comes back to the point he left off in chapter 1 concerning
the trial of those who profess faith. In chapter 1 he says,
if we say we have fellowship. See, there's something going
to say that. And what's the trial of this? They say they have fellowship
with Him, but if they walk in darkness, what? We lie. Do not the truth. He's continuing
that in chapter 2. In the first chapter, they say, I have fellowship,
but those that do not believe that the blood of Christ is sufficient.
There are some who say they have fellowship, but they don't walk
in the light. What is the light? It's the gospel. The gospel is
the light. Christ is the light. If they
don't walk in this, by faith in Christ alone as all their
hope, all their propitiation, all their righteousness. There
are some who say that, well, I have fellowship with God. Well,
okay, how do you have fellowship with God? Well, Jesus Christ,
He did His part, and I'm doing mine. No, you do not the truth. You're not walking in the light.
The light is you can contribute nothing. The light is that Christ
is all our salvation, all our righteousness, Those that say they have fellowship,
but do not believe that the blood of Christ is sufficient, but
try to add their works." John says this. He said, they lie. They lie and do not the truth. So John begins now to balance
this truth on the other side of religion. Just as some say
they're trusting in themselves to merit God's favor, there are
others who swing in the opposite direction. and say they know
Christ, but do not follow His commandments. There are some
who say, I believe that salvation is by grace, but I really don't
have to follow His commandments. John balances this out and he
says, look, hereby we do know that we know Him. Listen, what's
the evidence that you know Him? What's the evidence you walk
in the light? What is your evidence that you truly believe? Well,
John tells you. If we keep His commandments.
If we keep His commandments. Paul dealt with this in Romans
5 and 6. Romans 5 is a beautiful text of Scripture that says salvation
is completely by grace through faith in Christ. Completely by
the grace of God. He said where sin abounded, what?
Grace did much more abound. Salvation by grace through faith
in Jesus Christ. He explains that it's totally
by the grace of God without works. That salvation has nothing to
do with our works, but is solely based on God's grace through
the work of Christ. So then salvation is by grace,
And where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. But yet
some believe, some were going to say, well, if I sin more,
then shouldn't grace abound more? He said that in Romans 6 and
verse 1. He says, what shall we say then? Salvation is all
of grace. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Is one who is saved by grace
to sin more so grace might abound more? What is his answer? God forbid
you should even think such a thing. God forbid. How shall we who
are dead to sin live any longer then? How can we who are dead
to sin live any longer in sin? John confesses to us the truth
that if we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ,
If we do know Him in the power of His salvation, then what?
We will keep His commandments. And later on, John tells us these
commandments, they're not grievous commandments. They're not grievous
to us who believe. Now I know this, when I say this,
most men and the mind of the carnal mind obviously goes to
the Law of Moses. I want to give you three reasons
why this is not the law of Moses that he's talking about. First
of all, that law was fulfilled by Christ. That law of Moses
was fulfilled by Jesus Christ. These are not the commandments
of the letter of the law, but rather the commandments of Christ
Himself. As a matter of fact, in John
15, Jesus makes this distinction Himself. He says in John 15,
verse 10, My commandments. You shall abide in my love, even
as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. See the
distinction he made. He said, I've kept my Father's
commandments. Have you? Have you kept the Father's commandments?
Have you kept the law? No. He's the only one that has. But because he keeps his Father's
commandments, listen, he said, you keep my commandments. He
alone satisfied the demands of God's law, he is therefore all
our righteousness and all our salvation. Because he has obtained
all the law required, therefore, Paul says, Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. So then, because He honored the
law of God for us, He has become all our righteousness, and therefore
what? We submit to His commandments. Secondly, the commandments of
the law were never meant to save anyone. They were never meant
as a contingency upon our salvation. You don't believe in Christ and
then go to the law to finish your salvation, or to make it
better. The law has one purpose, friends. The law is good. Nobody is denying
the law is good. Paul said the law is holy and
just and good. Nothing wrong with the law. What's
the missing link? The flesh. We cannot abide by
the law. But the law therefore has a purpose,
and that purpose is this, that sin might become exceeding sinful. As a matter of fact, Paul says
that in Romans 7. Wherefore, the law is holy, the commandment
holy, just, and good. Was in that which is good made
death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear, sin, working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. See, the law has a purpose. The
law has a purpose to show guilt. And that's all it can do. When you read those Ten Commandments,
do you say, man, I've done a good job? Listen, if you can say that,
you don't have any clue who Christ is. The law has a purpose to make
sin appear what? Exceeding sinful. It cannot help
you to God. It cannot help you to grow in
holiness. You see, my holiness has already
been made by Jesus' obedience to that law. So He's not talking
about the Ten Commandments. Thirdly, the commandments of
the law are never divided. Now men are going to look at
this and say, if they keep His commandments. Well, He's talking
about the Ten Commandments. What about the rest of the law?
Well, you see, that was done away with. But we've got to keep
this part. Where in here do you find God
dividing His law? Can you find it? The law is not
divided anywhere in Scripture. The law is the law is the law. And if you're trying to keep
the Ten Commandments, you better go to Jerusalem, find a temple,
find a high priest and make some sacrifices. The law is never
divided. James says if a man is guilty
in one point, he's guilty of what? The whole law. He that continueth not in all
things written in the book of the law to do them is what? Cursed. Paul says in Galatians chapter
3 and verse 10 and 11. If men strive to obey the ten
commandments but do not offer the sacrifices, they are not
in obedience to the law of God. God never divided His law, but
men, Do. Men make void the law through
their traditions, trying to pick and choose which commandments
to obey and which to discard. It's nothing more than religious
gymnastics. Flipping about here and there,
and then they get to the end, they go, ta-da! Look, I obeyed. No, you flipped
over everything you didn't want to do or couldn't do. So when
the apostle here is talking about the commandments, he is not talking
about the law. He is not talking about the law.
His commandments are not the law of Moses, but rather the
commands of Jesus Christ. Now then, I've got three things,
three commands of Christ, that every believer, if you know Him,
these are things that we obey. These are the commands of Christ
that we obey. One commandment is this, to preach
the Word. The second commandment He gives
are His ordinances. And the third commandment is
the most essential. And I believe it is the reason
we do the other two. Perpetual faith and love. Perpetual faith and love. First,
to preach the gospel. When Jesus ascended, before He
ascended and went to heaven, He gave the great commission.
What was it? Go you into all the world and
preach the gospel. This was not the great suggestion. It is not the great option. It
is a commission from your King, from your Lord. Go you, all of
you, into the world and preach the gospel. The apostles did
so and we are doing so tonight, preaching the Word. This is what
we are here for, to hear the gospel preached, to preach this
Word. Why does God command us this?
Because this is the only means by which God will save His people
through the preaching of the gospel. Colossians chapter 1,
the apostle tells us this very plainly. Colossians chapter 1
and verse 21, For after that in the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God. See, you're not going to persuade
men by logic and reason, not by earthly wisdom. You won't
persuade them. People are trying to do that.
They spend a lot of money and a lot of time doing apologetics,
which is basically trying to use reason to prove the Scripture.
I don't need reason to prove it. This is the Word of God. The world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God. by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on Him in
whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? And what does the church say
about preachers? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace. Faith cometh by what? Hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. You see then the necessity of
obeying this calling. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. And this is not just for preachers,
this is not just for pastors, this is for you. Preach the Word. Go you into all the world and
preach the Gospel. You are His witnesses just as
much as I am His witness. Is this command grievous to you? It shouldn't be. It should be
your joy. It should be your joy to tell
others of this. Will they mock you? Yes. Will
they hate you? Of course. But it is His command. We preach this word. How? By
our mouth and by our life. You preach this Word. Declare
it to them. Listen, by you being here, you're
preaching. You're telling everyone out there,
this is where the Gospel is. And when they ask you, where
are you going to tell them? The Gospel is. It's here. This is
where you come here, God. This is where Christ is. We preach. Second command is the ordinances
of Christ. And I'm going to go over these
very quickly. I know I don't have time. First of all, believers'
baptism. Go you into all the world, teach
the nations, what? Baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. When a person
comes to faith in Christ, he bows before Christ as both Lord
and Christ, Savior and King. And what is the command of the
King? Confess him. Whosoever confesseth me, I will
confess him before Whoso will not confess me, I will deny him
before my Father." You know what baptism is? Baptism is a confession. That's what it is. It is a confession
of faith. Now, church over years have made
a point of having people come down to the front and saying,
giving their testimony. That's not found in the Scripture.
The only thing that's found as a confession of faith in Scripture
is believer's baptism. And what are we doing in this
baptism is as we stand in the water, what are we confessing?
Our need of cleansing. We're confessing our sin. That
I have need of this union with Christ. And as we stand in the
water, we are identifying with His union as coming into the
world as our Redeemer. As we are immersed into the water,
we are identifying with His death. That as He was immersed in the
wrath of God for our sins, we were in Him when He died on Calvary's
tree. And when we come up out of the
water, we are confessing His resurrection from the dead. That He rose again the third
day according to the Scriptures. That's what we're confessing
when we do this. We confess this. As He came out
of the tomb, even so, we are risen with Him. And we know this, that He has
cleansed us of all our sins. That's what we're telling people
when we were baptized. We're confessing Him before men.
Listen, if a man will not confess Christ in believers' baptism,
Something's wrong with that man's profession. It is a very simple
command. Is it not a simple command to
be baptized, to confess Him? Of course it is. And you know,
men say, I believe, but I don't need baptism. No, baptism has nothing to do
with your salvation, but I'll tell you this, If you're not
baptized, it's a direct disobedience to Christ, which proves what?
You're a liar. The truth's not in you. Why?
You won't obey Him. Don't you know when it says that
in Mark chapter 16? It says, "...he that believeth
and is baptized." Now why are those two things put together?
You ever wondered that? We know baptism has really nothing
to do with our salvation, but why is that put there? Because
faith is always exercised by obedience. Always. That's why John is saying this.
If we know Him, what? It's going to be evident we're
going to obey Him. It's going to be evident. I tell you this, when I believed,
there was nothing more I wanted than to be baptized. There was
nothing more than I wanted to confess Him before men. Confess
what He's done for me. And that's what believers do.
The second ordinance is the Lord's table. This too has nothing to
do with our salvation. But our Lord said this. He said
the same night He was betrayed, Paul said this, this which I
received of the Lord I deliver to you, that the Lord the same
night He was betrayed, He took bread and He said, Take ye, this
is my body which is broken for you. This do. in remembrance of me." Now, is
that a suggestion or is that a command? This do, in remembrance
of me. He took the cup. He said, this
is the cup of the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as often
as you drink it, in remembrance of me. So as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, what? You show forth the Lord's
death till He comes. This is what we do. We have the
Lord's table not for our salvation, but as a witness of His death. It stirs our minds and our hearts
in that ordinance. When we take that bread and we
eat it, we consider that His body being broken for me is now
in union with me. And as the bread nourishes the
body, even so Christ, He sustains us. in our faith. We drink that
wine as a picture of His blood of the New Testament. Wine is
a symbol of joy. It's also a symbol of purification.
Isn't that what His blood does? It purifies us and gives us great
joy. It cleanses us from our sins.
So when we take this table, this ordinance, we are following His
command. And another command of His is church membership. And I don't
mean in the church membership how people view it, signing a
card, putting your name on a roll. That's not what it means. I'm
talking about assembling. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together as the manner of some of you. You know we're
called sheep for a reason. First of all, because we're dumb. Sheep are just the dumbest animal.
They are. But really, sheep only follow
one shepherd. Jesus said, My sheep hear My
voice, and they follow Me. Are you His sheep? Then what?
You follow Him. You follow Him. And not only
do sheep follow one shepherd, sheep flock together. It's their
nature. It's their nature. When Paul
was saved, you know what the Scripture says? He has saved
to join himself. Like he couldn't help it, he
had to. And so if we listen to His Word, don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. We don't do that. We don't want
that as believers. Why? Because this is edifying. This is how we feed. This is
how we are strengthened. This is how we are encouraged
by seeing one another. to not forsaking the assembly
of yourself together as a manner of some is, but exhorting one
another." You know what? You're exhorting me. What happened if I didn't show
up tonight? Would you be exhorted? You wouldn't be, would you? How
could you be exhorted without anybody preaching to you? How
could I be exhorted if no one came to hear? We exhort one another. To what?
Love? We provoke one another to love.
Hopefully tonight, by the grace and power of God, I'm provoking
you to love Him. To see what great things God
has done for you. That you have an advocate, you
have a propitiation for your sins. That should provoke you to love.
And why would we want to miss that? God's people don't. And I'll
tell you, The Apostle in that same chapter in Hebrews 10 where
he said that, don't forsake the assembly, the very next verse,
in verse 26, he says, if we sin willfully, after you receive
the knowledge of the truth, there's no more sacrifice for sin. He
begins right then to go into what apostasy is. Don't you know
that apostasy begins with forsaking the assembling of yourselves? Listen, if we know Him, what?
We keep His commandments. And it's not grievous. Can you say that about the Law
of Moses? Can you say the Law of Moses is not grievous? That's
grievous. I can't do any of that. But I've
come here. I can eat the Lord's Supper. I can be baptized. I can preach
the gospel. I can do those things. They're not grievous to us. And
the third and last commandment is this, perpetual faith and
love, and these are the most important. Look down at verse
23 of John 3. Look down at verse 23. John's
going to sum up these commandments and these two things. Look at
John 3, verse 23. He said, And this is the commandment...
If we know Him, we keep His commandments. Listen. And this is the commandment,
that we should believe on the name of the Son, Jesus Christ. There's the first one. Faith
in Christ. Faith in Christ. We who believe
in Christ, we know that faith in Christ is necessary. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Faith is necessary. But we also
know this, faith is a gift. For by grace you are saved through
faith, and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God. Do you believe
on the Son of God tonight? Do you believe on the Son of
God? As many as received Him. There's faith. As many as received
Him, to them gave He the right to be called the sons of God.
Have you received Him? Well, do you have a need of Him?
Because you don't ever have a need of Him, you're not going to receive
Him. But if you're a sinner, you have a need. And as a sinner,
we have received Him by faith. Now, how is it that you have
received Him and others have not? Which were born, John says. 1 John chapter 1 verse 13. Which were born, not of blood. not of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God." You have faith because
you were born of God. And because you have faith, you
are a son of God. So let me ask you this, was faith
a one-time deal? I ask most Christians today,
and they'll say, well, I did. Do you believe? Well, when I
was younger, I made a profession of faith. You see, well, they
say, I did believe. You see, that's not true of true
believers because this is a command of Christ to believe on Him.
We believe on Him because this is His command. That's what He
just told you. In John 3 and verse 23, He said,
this is the command that you believe. When? Right now. Right now. Do you believe on
the Son of God right now? Well, how about now? You see, faith, if it is a true
faith, it is a gift of God and it is a perpetual grace. Perpetual grace. Constant grace. To believe on the Son of God.
He that believeth I like that word because it's a present perfect
tense. He that has believed is believing
and shall believe. He that believeth and is baptized.
That's past tense. That one's just past tense. One
time. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. We believe on Christ alone, and this faith endures.
The just shall live... How? How shall you live? By faith. Constant faith. Over in Colossians
1, he says that Christ made peace by the blood of the cross. How
do you know that peace is for you? If you continue in the faith. That's how you know that that
peace is for you. If you continue in the faith. Is this commandment
grievous to you? To believe on the Son of God? No. As a matter
of fact, it is our desire to believe more. Is that not right? I want to believe more. And the last commandment is this,
love. He said that in 1 John 3. He said to believe on the name
of Jesus Christ, the Son, And what? Love one another. He says in John 13 and verse
34, A new commandment I give you, that you love one another,
as I have loved you, that you love one another. You know, this
is even more potent than the law. The law says love your neighbor
as what? As yourself. Now, you love yourself. I know I love myself. Is it possible
for us to love our neighbor as ourselves? No, no, you can't do that. You
love yourself too much. Listen to this. He said, I command
you, love one another even greater than you love yourself, even
as I have loved you. Love one another. In Philippians
2, He says, Let nothing be done through strife of vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves. Oh God, help me to fulfill this
commandment of my Master. To love you like He loved you. to esteem you better than myself. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the
nature of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made of himself no reputation, took upon him the nature of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Let this mind be in you. If Christ humbled himself to
love you and die for you, is it not incumbent upon us to love
one another the same way? Do you know Him? If you know
Him, you will keep His commandments. Now let me ask you this, do you
keep them perfectly? No. But remember, our obedience
to His commandments still have nothing to do with our salvation.
Our salvation was procured. That's why it's not we're not
following the law of Moses. We're not following these laws
as to obtain salvation. I'm not going to love you to
obtain my salvation. I'm not going to preach the gospel
to obtain my salvation, obey the ordinance to obtain... No.
I follow these commandments because I am saved. I follow them because of His
love for me. And I love you because He loved
me. I believe on Him because He loved
me. I preach the gospel because He
loved me. We who believe on Christ, these
commandments should not be grievous to us. should be the desire of our heart. Are these things grievous to
you tonight? Do you know Him? If you do, these things aren't
grievous. These are things that we want to do. We desire to do
more of these things. I pray that God will bless this
to you. I really do. I pray that God will help us
to fulfill these things and know this. When you fall short, friends,
remember, we have an Advocate. We have an advocate. He is the
propitiation for our sins. If we confess our sins, you know,
I confess that I don't love you as much as I should. He's faithful
and just to forgive me, but I should love you more. Doesn't excuse
me. I want to love you more. I want
to believe him more. I want to preach his gospel more.
I pray that God would help us in these things. Let's be dismissed
in prayer. Gracious Father, I pray you dismiss
us with your blessing. Pour out your spirit upon us.
Use your word as you please. Open our hearts and minds that
we should believe it and receive it. If we know him, we will keep
these commandments and help us to do so for the glory of Christ
and the furtherance of the gospel. In these things we ask in Jesus'
name. Amen.