I want to thank you all. Brother
John and Vicki, thank you so much. All of you brethren for
hosting this meeting and a lot of work goes into it and I know
that and I'm very thankful for you. John, Johnny, Rhonda, thank
you all so much for being so hospitable to Will and me. Isn't it a blessing that God's
made us to know Christ and believe Him and to love one another and
want to meet together around the feet of our Redeemer and
worship Him? Isn't that just a blessing that
He's given us? For you that don't know Him,
life is a vapor. It is a vapor. You know, you
get some troubling news, and if you know the Lord and you're
believing Him and trusting Him, you have the assurance, the comfort
of knowing either the Lord is going to make you entirely well
and bring you home to be with Him forever, or He'll make you
a little better for a little while, and then a little later,
He'll bring you home to be with Him forever. but you just have
that comfort of knowing whatever he's pleased to do, it's well
with my soul. And I pray God give you that
don't know him grace to believe him and trust him. Life is so short and then we
have, we will have to stand before God and we can only be accepted
in the beloved. For you that do know him, I've
tried this weekend to comfort you with the good news of God's
promise. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under the law but under grace. The Lord
will keep you from going back to the law for justification
or for sanctification by continually making you know that we're carnal
souls under sin, but it's God through Christ that has and continues
to deliver us. We saw that it is by the Spirit
of God that our flesh is mortified. He keeps our minds set on Christ
above, and that's how the flesh is mortified. and He'll continue
to do so, bearing witness in your new heart that you're His,
making intercession for you when you can't pray, keeping you looking
to Christ. And today, I want you to see
that God will keep His children persevering in faith until the
end. He will keep you persevering
in faith until the end. 1 John 2, verse 29, Brother Todd
preached on this and I'll just read it to go along
with what I want to see today. Verse 29, if you know that Christ
is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth the righteousness
is born of Him. That is the literal translation.
Everyone that doeth the righteousness is born of Him. Then in 1 John
3, 4, Whosoever committeth sin, and it is the same literal translation,
whoever committeth the sin, transgresseth also the law, for sin is the
transgression of the law. Now look down at verse 10. In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of
the devil. Whosoever doeth not, Righteousness
is not of God, and that is, whosoever doeth not the righteousness is
not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." John declares
this is the difference. This is the difference between
the child of God and the child of the devil. In this, the children
of God are manifest, plainly known, and the children of the
devil. Whosoever doeth not the righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." And
you see those two things there. Whosoever doeth not the righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. So that
means the child of God doeth the righteousness and loves his
brethren. Now down the page, John says
the same two things in another way in verse 23. This is his
commandment. that we should believe on the
name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. That's
the same two things. That's the same two things. This
is his commandment he gave to us, and he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, and he in him. That's what John said. He's born
of God. You know he's born of God. And
hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he
hath given us. Brethren, doing the righteousness
is believing on the name of the Son of God. And it's doing it
until the end. Christ declared He's the light.
Go with me to John 3. Christ declared He is the light.
And He told Nicodemus, we have to be born again of the Spirit
of God to know this. And He declares these same two
things right here. John 3.20. Everyone that doeth evil, that's
the sin. He hateth the like, neither cometh
to the like, lest his deeds should be reproved. And it's not just
vile, wicked, immoral sins that he does not want to be reproved,
it's his righteousnesses. That's why he won't come to the
light. Sin is not gonna keep you from Christ. If God makes
you know you are the sinner, you will come to Christ, but
righteousness will keep you from him, self-righteousness. The
evil wickedness of self-righteousness is the nature of it is that we
don't see ourselves as sinners. That's why it's so dangerous.
But look at the next word, but he that doeth truth, that's doing
the righteousness. He that doeth truth cometh to
the light. He comes to Christ that his deeds
may be manifest that they're wrought in God, that Christ did
everything to make him righteous. That's doing the righteousness.
It's called doing the righteousness It's coming to Christ and continuing
to the end, trusting Him alone. And it's called doing righteousness
because through faith, God imputes the righteousness of Christ to
us. It's the only way we're made righteous is by the obedience
of Christ. That's what we're confessing
when we do truth, when we come to Christ, confessing Him. We're
confessing our only righteousness is the Lord Jesus. So the Apostle
John here, He's comforting us, showing us the difference between
the child of God and the child of the devil. Now, the way that
we know that doing righteousness is trusting Christ, here's how
you know this. He's not speaking, saying that
a believer cannot commit sin. John began the epistle and said,
if we say we have no sin, if we say we do not have a sin nature,
we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. And then he
said, and if we say we have not sinned, if we say we have not
committed sin, we're calling God a liar. His word's not in
us. Now, do not sin. He said that
clearly. Do not sin. Do not commit sin. But when you do, you have an
advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous, and
he is the propitiation for our sin. He's the mercy seed where
God will continue to be. Brother Doug just read, his mercy
is everlasting. He'll continue to be merciful
to his people for Christ's sake. But you know that he's not speaking
of just the fact that we can commit sin. He's talking about
the sin, because here's the truth of the matter. A child of God
can commit any sin that a child of the devil can commit. except
for one. He cannot, by the spirit of God,
by the grace of God, you cannot stop believing Christ. Now you've
got some unbelief in you, and you can do like Peter did and
go out and be in your heart, think you're gonna go back to
your fishing boat. But Christ said, I prayed for you that your
faith failed not, and that's why it didn't fail. The child
of God cannot commit the sin. He cannot cease believing Christ
by the grace and mercy of God. That's good news. That is good
news. Verse four, whosoever commit
a sin transgresseth also the law. Now the literal translation
is whosoever committed the sin. And John is speaking in particular
of the sin of rejecting Christ or of forsaking the gospel, forsaking
Christ, forsaking the brethren, and never returning. We see with
Peter, we could go out, but if we're here, he's gonna bring
you back. But he's talking about here until the end, to the end. Now go back to 1 John 2.19, and
let's see this in the context. 1 John 2.19, he said this of
the children of the devil. they went out from us, but they
were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt
have continued with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us." Now brethren,
if somebody appears to be departing, don't give up hope that they're
the Lord's because if they're His, He will bring them back.
But he's talking about here's somebody that departs and goes
and never returns. They've forsaken Christ for the
world or for their sin or whatever. But now read on, but you have
an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I've
not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because
you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar,
but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist
that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son,
the same hath not the Father. but he that acknowledges the
Son hath the Father also." Now notice there, whosoever denies
the Lord Jesus denies the Father also. When our Lord walked this
earth, the Pharisees rejected Christ for the law, but they
claimed to believe the Father. They claimed to be of the Father
and be the children of the Father. But the Lord Jesus told them
plainly just what John says here, Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledges the
Son hath the Father also. Now let's read on, verse 24,
Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the
beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning
shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son and
in the Father. And this is the promise, that
he hath promised us even eternal life. These things have I written
unto you concerning them that seduce you. There was many in
John's day that were trying to seduce the saints into thinking
Christ was not enough. They needed to mix the law, they
needed to mix their works with the Lord Jesus, and they were
seducing them away from Christ. And John says, I'm writing concerning
this, Verse 27, he says, But the anointing which you have
received of him abideth in you. And you need not that any man
teach you, you know Christ is all. But as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, even
as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him. That's God's Word,
you shall. And now, little children, abide
in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not
be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is
righteous, you know that everyone that doeth the righteousness,
he just told us what it is, everybody that believes on Christ and abides
in Christ until the end is born of him. All right, now look at
verse 4 again, 1 John 3, 4. Whosoever committeth the sin
transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the
law. It's interesting that he says, he transgresseth also the
law. Why did he say that? Because
he just said, if anybody denies Christ, if he goes back to the
law, he denies Christ, he's denied the Father also. And now he says
this, And when you do that, and though you go back to the law,
and you may be zealous of the law, and you may be claiming
to keep the law, you're also transgressing the law. The only
way we fulfill the righteousness of the law is by Christ's obedience. And that obedience is ours by
God-given faith, bringing you to rest entirely in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when you have this unction
from the Holy One, you know all things, you know Christ is all. And by that anointing, you abide
in him, you continue in him. And that's the promise that he
promises his people. The Lord said, you know, it says
here, whosoever committeth the sin transgresseth also the law. You remember the Lord said, when
the spirit of God comes, he will convince us of sin because they
believe not on me. That's the sin, that's the sin. It's saying Christ is not enough.
It's mixing our works with Christ. John says denying Christ is denying
the Father, and it's also transgressing the law. Later, John speaks of
the sin unto death. He speaks of it in the last chapter,
and this is it. The law was given to make us
know our sin. The law was given to be a schoolmaster
unto Christ. But when faith has come, when
Christ the faithful has come into the heart and given you
faith to trust him, you're no longer under the schoolmaster.
You're under Christ, you're under the blood, you're under his righteousness. So mixing law with grace, denying
Christ in any way, no matter how good it may appear, That
somebody so zealous for the law is denying the Father and is
transgressing the law. Christ is all, brethren. Christ
is all. But by being born of the Spirit
and by this unction, you will continue in Christ. That's what
he's saying. Now look at 1 John 3, 5. He said, denying or committing
the sin is also transgressing the law. But read on here, verse
5, and you know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in
him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Now just look at that statement,
brethren. It's not that we'd never commit a sin, but abiding
in Christ We have no sin. In Christ, we have no sin. He's
put sin away. And you abide in Him, and there's
no sin. In Him, there's no sin. Whosoever
sinneth, whosoever does not abide in Christ, nor hath not seen
Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth the righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. He that believes on Christ is
righteous even as Christ is righteous. He that sinneth is of the devil,
for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the
Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of
the devil. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born
of God. In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not
the righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother." John's purpose in this whole epistle, he sums it up
at the end. He said this, he said, This is
the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God." You believe Him now. He said, I'm
declaring this that you might know you have life, and you might
continue to the end believing on the Son of God. That's the
purpose of this epistle. So let me just speak a little
while on these things that we've seen here. First of all, the
sin, committing the sin does two things. It is a denial of
Christ, which is also a denial of the Father. He said, whosoever
denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. In 2 John, if
you want to look there, right there, 2 John, and look at verse
nine, This is exactly what John's saying
in that verse. Verse nine, whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. Abiding means you found it. He's found you and made you find
him and you have all. And you know you have all and
you continue in him. You abide in him. By not resting
in Christ our righteousness, a person who does that not only
does not have the Father, he also transgresses the law. He
also transgresses the law. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. We cannot mix
grace and works. We can't mix the law with grace. It can't be Christ plus anything.
It has to be Christ alone, believing Christ alone. This is what Christ
said in John 3.18. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. You have no sin. But he that
believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So that's the first
thing. Having Christ, you have life. And you have the Father. And
you have perfect obedience before the law of God. Abide in Him. Don't look anywhere else, abide
in Christ. Secondly, the good news is those
that are born of Christ cannot commit the sin. Look there again
in verse five, you know, you know this, you have the unction,
you know, 1 John 3, 5, you know that Christ was manifested to
take away our sins. That means all of our sin, and
in him is no sin. because Christ took away the
sins of his people, all who abide in him." Get this good news in
your heart, you have no sin. Think about that, brethren. I
know that's how we see in ourselves, but in Christ, we have no sin. God speaks of the book, you know,
there's the books where those that don't know Christ will be
judged out of the books. Everything will be in the books.
Everything you ever thought, done, said is in the books. But then there's the book. That's
the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
That's the book in which God wrote all the names of His elect
who He chose and gave to Christ before the world began. And He
says in the book, it's described as a blank page. All the sins
have been blotted out. There's no record of sin. God
said, as far as the East is from the West, so far have I removed
your transgression. All that's in the book is a record
of perfect, absolute, continual righteousness, because that's
what Christ has accomplished for His people. You want to be
found in Christ, not having the righteousness of your own. You
want to be found in Christ having His righteousness alone. Whosoever
is born of God shall be kept abiding in Him. You cannot commit
the sin. Verse 6, Whosoever abideth in
Him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known
Him. By Christ's obedience. having
fulfilled the law, by being born of the Spirit of God, having
the unction of the Holy One, as John said in chapter two,
he shall abide in you and he shall keep you abiding in him. Aren't you thankful for that?
Aren't you thankful? You ever go through times where
you're just so full of unbelief? And you don't want to be, but
you are. And you can't do one thing about it. When you're in
that season of just unbelief, he's just troubled. And then
he shines a light and makes you know. He's yours and you're His,
and you're in Him, and you just know by that, you know it's of
Him. He's keeping me abiding in Him.
It's not me. We can't glory how strong our
faith is and how we've done this. It's Him keeping you abiding
in Him. Now abide in Him. That's what John said. Knowing
this, now abide in Him, and He'll keep you abiding in Him. The
same anointing, he said in 1 John 2.27, 1 John 2.27, he said, The
same anointing teacheth you of all things in his truth, and
is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in
him. You shall. Now you contrast this
with what he says here about the child of the devil. Whosoever
sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. The Lord Jesus said,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't see Christ the King.
Whosoever abideth in Christ does so because we've been born again.
We've seen him. He's shown himself to us. He's revealed himself and we
know him. Those who can commit the sin. just out and out rejecting
Christ or sometimes folks will profess Him and then they'll
depart and they'll go back into the world, never again to return. They never saw Him and they never
knew Him. Our Lord doesn't, He doesn't
quicken His people and then lose His people. He said, no man can
pluck them out of my hand. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I know my sheep and I'm known of mine. I give
them eternal life and no man will pluck them out of my hand.
Those who can commit the sin have not been born of the Spirit.
They've not seen Him, neither known Him. Verse 8, he that sinneth is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. Now look
at that. He that sinneth is of the devil,
for the devil sinneth from the beginning. Look at John 8 and
listen to what our Lord said. Our Lord said this plainly to
the Pharisees. They were boasting being children
of Abraham. And in John 8, 44, the Lord Jesus
said this. He said, you are of your father,
the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. That's what
John said. He said, He that sinneth of the
devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. The Lord
said, You of your father the devil, the lusts of your father
you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth. He abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, speak
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. Look at
verse 47. He that is of God, heareth God's words. Ye therefore
hear them not, because you're not of God. The devil sinned
from the beginning. He was a murderer. He wanted
to murder Christ from the beginning. He wanted to murder God's people
from the beginning. And he abode not in the truth.
He did not abide in the truth. because there's no truth in it.
But he said, you're born of God. He said the word of God's in
you. And therefore you will abide in the truth. You don't want
to crucify Christ afresh. You're thankful he was crucified
in the room instead of his people. This is all your hope and all
your salvation. Christ said, those who of their father, the
devil, do just what the devil did. When the devil speaks of,
when he speak of the lie, he speaks of his own. That's another
way of saying what you hear the world preaching. They're speaking
a lie and they're talking about their own works and their own
doing and what they've done and how they've let God save them. That's the devil's lie. God's
people are not, glory in that anymore. You can't because you
know it's all of God. Everything that's been done has
been done by the grace and mercy of God. And here's another thing about
it. He said that God's child will
do the righteousness, will believe on Christ and love our brethren.
And later John, let me see if I can find this. Listen to this, 1 John 5, look
at verse one. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that believeth him,
that's not what he said. And everyone that loveth him
that beget, loveth him also that's begotten of him. You would think
that that second part of that verse would be, and everybody
that believes him, Loves him. But it's like John is equating
believing Christ with loving your brethren. Because they're
one. They really are one. And the
chief way we love one another. is believing Christ and continuing
to the end, trusting Christ. Because when you do that, you're
not gonna forsake the assembling of yourselves together. And you
need each other to have this gospel and continue together.
And the very chief way you love your brethren is trusting Christ. You trust your brethren to Christ,
you pray for one another, you bear witness of Christ to one
another, and you continue together, assembling together, trusting
Christ. That's how you love your brethren.
They're one, faith and love are one. And by this anointing, you're
not gonna cease believing it and you're not gonna cease loving
your brethren. You can fall out with your brethren and get disgruntled
with one another. Usually the Lord ends up bringing
his people back together. But even if he doesn't do that,
when Paul and Barnabas parted ways, they didn't stop loving
one another. They didn't stop loving one another.
They just had a disagreement. And when you drop this body of
death, love your brethren. If you got anything odd against
your brother, just be reconciled to one another. You're one in
Christ. And life's too short to be at
odds with one another. When you meet God and you drop
this body of death, you're gonna be side by side with no differences,
worshiping the same Redeemer. So do it now. Do it now. Believe in Christ and continue
in him to the end. That's how you love your brethren.
That's how you love your brethren. Look at Cain now back there in
1 John 3 verse 12. He's the example of the child
of the devil. He was of that wicked one and
slew his brother and wherefore slew he him because his own works
were evil and his brother's righteous. There is only one thing scripture
tells us that Abel did. He did the righteousness. He
came to God through the blood of the lamb. He believed on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's all the scriptures tell
us that Abel did. And it was that very thing that
made Cain hate Abel and kill him, that very thing. All right,
here's my last point. The child of God is manifest
in that he cannot cease believing on Christ. He will continue to
the end, persevering in faith. Verse nine, 1 John 3, 9. Whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in
him, and he cannot sin because he's born of God. Because Christ
destroyed the works of the devil for us on the cross, and because
he destroyed the works of the devil in us by the new birth,
the result is you're going to continue trusting Christ to the
end. and you cannot commit sin. Now the new man in the new man
is no sin. Brother Todd brought this out
plainly yesterday, and I don't even have to really speak on
it, but the new man is created in Christ's image. He's holy
because Christ is formed in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
has made a new holy man in you. And the thing about that is,
people will say, well, you can't say that. People will look at
themselves. If that's so of you, you don't look at yourself anymore.
You're looking at Christ. And it's through faith in Christ
that his righteousness, you robed in his righteousness. And there
is no sin. You cannot sin in that inner
man. That new man is holy and cannot
sin. And because that's so, you also
can't reject Christ. You can't apostatize from Christ. It's because His seed remaineth
in you. Look back just a few pages. 1 Peter 1, verse 21. Here's why. Here it is. This is how we began.
This is how we continue. 1 Peter 1, verse 21. He tells us there that Christ
redeemed us. And then he says this, verse
21, he says, "...who by Him do believe in God." It's by Christ
that you believe in God. "...that raised Him up from the
dead and gave Him glory." And He gave Him the glory of calling
out His sheep, being the prophet, priest, and king that calls us
to Himself. And He did this, "...that your faith and hope
might be in God." Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently."
Our Lord said that His people are sanctified through faith
that is in me. When He gave you that new holy
heart and gave you faith to believe Him, your heart is pure. Your
heart's purified. When John says there, knowing
the love of Christ, knowing that we're sons of God, he that hath
this hope in himself purifieth himself, he's speaking in context
that we don't continue with folks that forsake Christ or reject
Christ and go away from Christ. We're separated unto his brethren.
That's what he's talking about. And we continue with his brethren.
because he's put this new heart in you to believe Christ and
love one another. And here's how he did it. Verse
23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. That means that new man can't
be corrupted. Born of incorruptible seed. By
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. That means
the new man liveth and abideth forever. You have eternal life. by the word of God. And this,
verse 25, this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you. Aren't you so thankful God chose
to save through the foolishness of preaching? This is, you know,
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's a power of God
unto salvation. This is the engine that makes
the car go. If you hear preaching, not all
preaching is the power of God, because a lot of preachings just
point you to you. But the preaching that is the
power of God is declaring Christ. And it's through that gospel
that God reveals Christ, His righteousness in you. And this
is what constrains you by His love to believe Him and continue
in Him and to continue with one another. And that'll never be
corrupted in that new man. And like we saw Friday and Saturday,
the Spirit of God will keep your affection set on Him and keep
you from going back. He'll keep you from going back. In this, 1 John 3.10, in this
the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil.
Whosoever doeth not righteousness Whoever does not believe on Christ
and continue in him to the end is not of God. Neither he that
loveth not his brethren. I wanna end by having you turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Here's the application for this,
Hebrews 10. By our sovereign savior, by his
work for us and the work he's done in us, we're righteous as
Christ is righteous, brethren. Oh, what good news. The fellowship
we have in him is the new man in Christ with God our Father,
and that'll always be. That'll always be. And by His
grace, we cannot, we shall not cease believing on the name of
His Son, Jesus Christ. We will not cease loving one
another because we dwell in Christ and Christ dwells in us. You
see the difference here is not anything we did. The difference
is the grace of God, entirely the grace of God beginning to
end. Now here's the application, Hebrews 10.23. Let us hold fast
the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful,
that promise. That's what John's saying. And
let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works. You want to provoke your brethren,
provoke them to love. Provoke them to love. How you
do that? Loving them, loving them. Provoke them to love and
to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so
much to more as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully,
that's the sin. If we commit the sin, the sin
unto death, if we go back, forsake Christ, there remains no more
offering, no more sacrifice for sin. but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversary.
Hold fast your profession and love one another. That's what
John's saying. That's what John's saying we
shall do by the grace and mercy of God. Amen. stand and turn to page 266, faithfully,
with joy, and then do the rest.