Brethren, if you will, open your
Bibles to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. I want to do
what's right. In my walk in this life, I don't
want to bring reproach on this gospel. I don't want to sin against
my God who saved me. I want to do righteousness. That's a believer's desire, that's
their heart, to do well towards all men. But I hope today we
can see what that doing righteousness really is. 1 John 2, we'll begin
in verse 29. If ye know that He is righteous,
ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.
Chapter 3, verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God? Therefore the world knoweth us
not, it doesn't love us, because it knew him not. It doesn't love
Christ. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall
see him as he is, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And
ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in
him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth sin 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 doth
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
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother." Now today, the title of our message is Doing Righteousness. Doing Righteousness. We're going
to look at verse 29 there in chapter 2, and then we're going
to look at verses 4 through 10 of chapter 3. And Lord willing,
next week we'll take a look at verses 1 through 3. Verse 29 of chapter 2, John writes
to us, if you know that He is righteous, if you know Christ
is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born
of Him. Now many, many translations of
the Bible, most of the modern day translations, many of them,
in this verse they use the words describing all those that's born
of him that they practice righteousness. They do with righteousness. Many
of the translations, if they don't have that, they'll have
that people that are in Christ do what's right. Not that we
do with righteousness, but what we do is we do the right thing.
And one of the very lame translations says we do the right thing. But
inside of Christ, that new man in us, We do want to practice
righteousness. We do want to do what is right. But that's not how we abide in
Him. That's not how we know we're
born of Him. God's elect children love the law of God in our new
creation, in our new birth. And when the Holy Spirit quickens
us, and they give us a new eternal man in us, that uncorrupt spirit,
we do have a different walk in this world. How we approach things
in this world is different. Our attitude is different. We
are made the servants of righteousness because now we serve the one
who is righteous. That's the difference. We are
given the desire to honor God, to believe and love Christ and
to love our brethren. That's put in us. Now some may
say here in 1 John 3 and verse 9, what we just read, John says
that the believers do not commit sin. Some will say, see, you
can't be sinning. You've got to stop that. Is there
anyone here that has not committed sin? I have. Some say John is speaking there
about habitual sin. That person does not make sinning
their common practice. That's not their daily routine.
That's not what they endeavor to do. But like the scriptures
tell us, believers should strive to sin not. We have no desire
to sin, but we do. It's still in us. But all these
outward acts, all these appearances, these putting on a show, the
showmanship, a person that is completely against Christ can
do all those things. They can look good like those
sepulchers. They can paint themselves white, can't they Bob? They look
good on the outside, but the inside is full of dead men's
bones. But John is showing us here in
chapter 2 and chapter 3 what the difference is between a true
child of God, a true believer, and a child of the devil. That's
what he's showing us. And when John was writing this
letter, it was a letter. When I write someone a letter
at another church or if I write one of you all a letter, I don't
put chapters in it. I hope I don't write a letter that long. I don't
number my paragraphs. I don't give it verses. John
had wrote this letter and the translators went in and they
put chapter divisions and verses in there to help break it up
a little bit for us but also so we can find it. There's a
whole lot of pages in this scripture. We've got to be able to reference
it. So we don't want these chapter divisions to distract us. But
here from chapter 2 and verse 18 all the way to chapter 3 verse
24, John's dealing with the same topic. His topic doesn't change. He's showing us the difference
between those who are children of God and those who are not.
It shows us all the way through. Now we saw last week this in
a little bit more detail. Let's be reminded about what
John's talking about again. Look here in verse 18. John starts
speaking here of the Antichrist. He starts laying out what it
means by those that are committing sin. 1 John 2.18 Little children,
it is the last time, and as ye have heard the Antichrist shall
come, even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we know
that this is the last time. They went out from us. that they
were not of us. If they had been of us, if they
were one with us as we are one with Christ, 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 look down at verse
22. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is the Antichrist, that denieth
the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father." This is what John's talking about
whenever he speaks concerning committing sin. Here's what he's
talking about. The first and foremost thing
is being against Christ. Being anti-Christ. Robbing Him
of His glory. Robbing Him of His Lordship.
To take anything from Him. To turn from Him. It's being
against Him. That's committing sin. Second there, it's leaving
the preaching of the gospel. Going out to hear lies. As Paul told the Galatians, they
went to another gospel which is not another. To turn to something
else, that's committing sin. And he says there in verse 22
that to deny that Jesus is THE Christ, He is THE Christ. To say that Christ did not fully
accomplish everything that the Father sent Him to do. To say
that man has something left to do. We still have something to
do in justification, in redemption, or in sanctification. That is
committing sin. If He's the Christ, He accomplished
what the God sent the Christ to do, didn't He? John also shows
us here who the children of God are and what He means when He's
speaking about those that doeth righteousness. Look here in verse
20, 1 John 2.20, But ye have an unction, that's that anointing,
that balm that's been applied to us, ye have an unction from
the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto
you because you know not the truth, but because ye know it,
and that no lie is of the truth." Look down at verse 24. Let that
therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning.
If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in
you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father." If
we stay faithful to Christ, it's because the Spirit makes that
truth remain in us. Look at verse 25. And this is
the promise that He hath promised us eternal life. These things
have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you, those that
try to deceive you, turn you to something else. But the anointing
which ye have received of him, that unction that's applied to
us, abideth in you. And ye need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, shall
abide in him. Ye shall abide in him. 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."
This is what JAH means by doing righteousness. It is the opposite
of committing sin. The dead opposite. We know the
truth concerning Christ. We've been taught that from the
beginning of our salvation. That's what we looked at last
week. But we know Christ is all. He is all in all. That's how
we know all things. That is doing righteousness.
That abides in us. We have a confidence, like Paul
wrote to the church at Philippi, that he that which hath done
good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
John says we will not be ashamed at His coming. We will not be
found to be ashamed. And if that confidence we are
given is in Christ alone, that's doing righteousness. And those
that attempt to seduce us in works, or indebting God to us,
or thinking that Christ did not do everything for us and we still
have a little bit more to go, John says that, He need not that
any man teach you. We don't need somebody to teach
us these things. Now that does not mean we are saved apart from
the preaching of the gospel. That does not mean that the Lord
does a work in us, and then after that work's done, we don't need
to have any more instruction, we don't need to have any more
fellowship, and Lord save me, now I can move to Hawaii and
start a business down there and go by myself. That ain't what
that means. What that does mean is we have discernment. When
we hear a lie, when we hear someone tell a lie on our God, on the
God of this Bible, we say that's not true. We know the difference. To be given the ability to act
on that gift of discernment that we have been given, that's doing
righteousness. All these things are given, aren't
they? Now we can see what John says about committing sin. He
means he's someone that denies Christ. They mix works with grace. Going against the truth, turning
away from the gospel. Abandoning Christ's people, not
fellowship with them. And when he says doing righteousness,
he means we are standing in Christ alone. Abiding in the truth,
loving our brethren. assembling with them to the end
under the sound of the gospel." That's doing righteousness. Now
here in chapter 3, John continues the same line of thought, showing
the difference between the children of God and the children of the
devil and why this distinction happens, why it takes place.
They're in verse John 3 and verse 4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresses
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And
ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in
him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither know him. Little
children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as He, even as Christ, is righteous. He that
committeth sins 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 doth not commit sin, for his, for
Christ's 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. John links doing righteousness
with loving the brethren there in verse 10. It says, Whosoever
doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth
not his brother. Those are tied together. Now
we saw this before, those commandments that we looked at to Adam in
the garden, those commandments that came from Christ as He preached
on this earth, and the commandments that are given here by the apostles,
they haven't changed any. Look down in chapter 3 verse
23. And this is His commandment,
that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another, as He gave us commandment. And He that keepeth
His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in Him. And hereby
we know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He hath given
us. That's our commandments. Believe
on Christ, love the brethren. Now there, verse 29, chapter
2, says, if you know that Christ is righteous, you know that everyone
that doeth righteousness is born of Him. If we know Christ is
righteous, how is it that we can have assurance that we're
born of Him? Is this just something outward
that we profess, or is this something that we know? What is our assurance
that we're kept in the knowledge and truth that is our Savior? How do we know we're kept in
Him? We know Christ put away our sins, don't we? Look there
in chapter 3, verse 4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for the sin is the transgression of the law.
And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in
Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither know him. It
says there, whosoever commiteth sin, whoever abides not in Christ
by faith alone, whosoever walks away from faith in Christ, says
they transgresseth also the law. If any man does not abide in
Christ, does not believe in Christ, he sins against God. That's our
sin. Because God commands us to believe
on Christ his Son. God said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. We're required to
believe Him. Believers are called effectually
by our Lord. We're made alive. We're given
a new spirit and we're made to believe on Christ. We're made
to hear Him. We do righteousness in our hearts, those new hearts
that are given to us. Our Master said, In John 6, this
is the work of God. This is doing righteousness that
you believe on Him whom He hath sent. We're to believe Christ. Let's turn over to John chapter
3 real quick. John chapter 3. By not believing on Christ, Men
and women transgress, we offend the whole law because the law
is fulfilled in Christ. He's the one that fulfilled it.
If we don't believe on Him, we offend the whole law. We're left
in our sins and we're condemned. Christ says there in John 3 verse
18, John 3.18, He that believeth on him is not condemned, but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this
is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and
men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may
be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." By committing
the sin of not believing on Christ, a person breaks the whole law
of God. Why? Because Christ is a fulfillment
of the law for his people. He came to fulfill that law.
To reject Christ is to willfully live under the curse and the
condemnation of the whole law of God. Christ said here in John
3 verse 19, this is the condemnation, this is the sin that condemns
men and women, that light has come into the world and men love
darkness rather than light. Now John began 1 John. When we started in 1 John we
looked at the difference between light and darkness. Light is
believing on Christ and truth and darkness is rejecting Christ
for the works of the flesh. It's turning from Him. Christ
said, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will convince men of sin because
they believe not on me. That's what turns us. The sin
John's speaking of committing is a sin of not believing Christ.
That's what he's talking about. Now back to our text there. I
ask if any of us have ever committed sin, do we have unbelief? Do we look to God all day, every
day, for everything, trust Him fully as our Master did? Or do
we have unbelief? Do we look to this world? Do
I look to myself? Christ put away the sin of His people on
the cross. Now, because He's done that,
the justice of God demands that Christ must take away our sin
and the sin of unbelief. That too. by giving us faith
in Him. John says, And ye know that He
was manifest to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. Since Christ put away our sins
on the cross, Christ sends out Holy Spirit through the gospel
and puts away our sin of unbelief, giving us faith to look to Him
alone. He said, Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not. Abiding in
Christ is believing on Christ. We stand on that rock. Abiding
means to stand, be steadfast. By standing in Christ by faith,
we don't sin. Christ took away all the sin
of His people by being made sin for us and making us the righteousness
of God in Him. John says, and in Him is no sin. He has no sin. If we're made
one with Him, I don't have any either. He's satisfied every
bit of it. Believer, you are without sin.
It's been purged from you. Gone. Never to be seen again.
Hebrews 1.3 says, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. because He's
accomplished it by Himself. No help. It's done. It's purged. Because of that, Christ takes
away the sin of unbelief and those He redeemed by creating
each one of us redeemed a new heart and putting it in us and
making us know Him and see Him and giving us faith to believe
on Him, to trust Him. This is how He brings us to abide
in Him, to stand in Him, to believe on Him and to keep us believing
on Him. And this is what John says, Whosoever sinneth, whosoever
abides not in Christ by faith, hath not seen Him, nor hath known
Him. Our Master told us there in John
3, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. When we're born of Christ,
He reveals Himself in us. He was there and He reveals it.
Reveals Himself in us. Making us see Him. We know Him. We see Him. And the result is
what Christ said, that they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. He initiates the work, He performs it, He
completes it, He sustains it. There's every bit of it. So knowing,
how does knowing Christ is righteous make us know that everyone that
believes on Him is born of Him? It's because all who believe
are given faith to believe on Him alone and nothing else, no
one else, not themselves. Christ put away our sin on the
cross and He puts away our sin of unbelief too. He keeps making
intercession for us constantly. He brings us to rest in Christ
by faith as our only righteousness. to those who believe on Christ
and continue abiding in Christ, standing in Christ. They do it
because they've been made righteous by Christ. And they are born
again. How righteous are God's children
made? Are we made halfway? You better
figure out the other half. Made three-quarters? That's a
bunch. 99%. We've got to do that last
little 1%. We are made as righteous as Christ
is righteous. Look here in verse 7. 1 John
3, 7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness. We've just covered that. We believe
on Christ, believe the Lord, love Him, know Him, hear His
voice, been given new life, bind, love our brethren. He that doeth
righteousness is righteous, how much? Even as Christ is righteous. Remember, doing righteousness
is believing on Christ. This is the same as what Christ
calls doing truth. John 3.21 says, But he that doeth
truth cometh to the light. that His deeds may be made manifest
that they are wrought in God, due in truth and due in righteousness.
Believing on Christ, because we are made one with Christ,
we are given His incorruptible seed. That act was wrought in
and of God. So Christ being our righteousness
and that source of all things required of the Father means
we are as righteous as He is righteous. His robe of His garment
has been put on us. It's His. I don't have my own. I don't have something to improve.
It's His and He gave it to me. It's through faith in Christ
freely given to us that the believer establishes the whole law of
righteousness. Not because we established it,
but because Christ did it for us. You can read Romans 3.31
for that one. If we know Christ is righteous,
then we know a person that does righteousness, believes solely
on Christ, is born of Him, and is righteous even as Christ is
righteous. And through that work performed in us, that's wrought
of God, wrought in us from Him, we cannot keep from believing. We cannot not believe. Stop loving your children. You
can get mad at them. Not push them away. That's your
flesh and blood. You're one with them. You can't
stop loving them. We can't stop believing the one
that loved us, can we? Look here, 1 John 3, verse 8.
He that commiteth sin 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 doth 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 righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. Since Christ came to destroy
the works of the serpent, the works of the devil, whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin. Those born of faith cannot
stop believing on Christ. We cannot stop looking to Christ
and begin looking to our works for salvation. We can't go back
to that. We cannot walk away from the faith and we cannot
cease loving our brethren. Why? It's because we're born
of Christ's incorruptible seed. And His seed remains in us. And the new man that Christ creates,
there's no sin. Only love for the Lord and love
for our brethren. Turn over to 1 Peter and we'll
close. 1 Peter 1. In our flesh, there's only sin,
but turning from Christ is the one sin that these born of God
cannot commit, because Christ will not allow it. By His incorruptible
seed remaining in us, He won't let us turn from Him. 1 Peter
1.21, Who by Him did believe in God, that raised Him up from
the dead, and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might
be in God. Seeing ye have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure
heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible seed, by the word of God. which liveth and
abideth forever. For all flesh is grass, and all
the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you." Do you see Christ as all your righteousness? Has the Word of God been given
in authority in your heart, over your flesh, and you see that
your flesh is like that flower of grass. It fades and burns,
but He's everything. His Word is everything. You see,
your sin against God is only satisfied by that blood atonement
of Christ. You believe Him, and know that
no matter what, no matter what, He will keep us believing on
Him. He'll keep us to the end, and we won't be ashamed. If so,
you have that incorruptible seed in you, and you doeth righteousness,
because you're His. And God says, that one's righteous. You're holy, because of His Son. Ain't that something? Heavenly Father, thank You today
for Your Word. Lord, keep it simple to us. Repeat it in our hearts. Make us trust our Savior and
love Him. Make us love our brethren. Make
us be thankful, Lord. Thank You for the trials that
You send us. Thank You for bringing us low and showing us how mighty
our Savior is. Lord, let us praise Him. Let
us glory only in Him. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
the word. Forgive our sins. Forgive us
for what we are, Lord. Be with our brethren everywhere. Comfort them. Give them a heart
to love Him. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it. Amen.