All right, let's open our Bibles
to 1 John, chapter 3. 1 John, chapter 3. Now, the title of my message
is around a subject that is so important and essential. It has
to do with living the Christian life. Have you ever thought about
that? What is it to live the Christian
life? So many different ideas that
men will give you. So many books that have been
written on that subject. You go to the bookstores and
you'll see a section in the religious section or go into a religious
bookstore and it'll say Christian Living. And I usually go over
there and I browse around and most of what I see when I look
at the tables of contents and when I skim a chapter is pretty
much psychology and not scripture. They might use a scripture, they
might quote a scripture, and then they launch out on human
psychology and the power of positive thinking. And nothing wrong with
thinking positively, don't get me wrong, but that's not what
Christian living is all about. Well, the Bible teaches us, the
Word of God teaches us exactly what it is. And I'm going to
sum it up in this phrase, which is the title of the message.
And it's this, abiding in Christ. Now, that's the summation of
it. Now, there are a lot of particulars there that we're going to look
at in the coming weeks as we study God's Word. But that's
what the Christian life really is. It's abiding in Christ. The word abiding means continuing,
continuing in Him. So let's look at this. You know,
we studied back last week in the first three verses of this
chapter how the apostle John, by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit had launched out in the glorious praise of God's love,
God's amazing love. Look at verse 1. He says, Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. The love
of God to his people who are sinners is an amazing thing,
amazing grace, amazing love. It's the love of God that is
totally unconditional towards the objects of His love. It's
the love of God that sent His Son into the world to do for
us what we could not do for ourselves, to accomplish the requirements
and conditions that God required and were needed for our eternal
salvation. And it's amazing love that we
should be called the sons of God, that we who are sinners,
should be called sons of God. By nature, we're sons of Satan,
the Scripture teaches. But by God's divine electing
grace, by his redeeming grace, by his adopting grace, by his
regenerating grace, we're now sons of God, children of God.
And he says, therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew
him not. The world will not recognize
this, because the world didn't recognize the Lord Jesus Christ. If we're disciples of Christ
and the world did not recognize him, it will not recognize us.
It may recognize many things of the flesh, but it will not
recognize truly now and scripturally what a Christian is, or even
the love, this divine love that God has for his people and that
we have for one another. He goes on to describe our destiny
now. He says in verse 2, Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and I love that. It's not later.
In other words, being a child of God is not something we strive
for. That's how we start out in the
Christian life, a child of God, born again by the Spirit into
the family of God. But now, it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. Now, there's not one of us here
this morning. They can honestly and scripturally
say that we are what we ought to be in ourselves. We can't
say that. We look to Christ for our salvation.
We rest in him. He is our righteousness. He's
the Lord our righteousness. We're forgiven, washed in his
blood. But in ourselves now, and be
honest. That's what walking in the light
is all about. You know, John started out this
epistle about those who walk in the light. Well, that means
a lot. We walk in Christ, who is our light. But we've got to
be honest. That's what light does. It exposes
reality. And think about yourself, you
know, your inward thoughts, your day-to-day life, your motives,
everything you go through, times of trouble, times of prosperity,
all of that. Think about that. What are we? Are we what we ought to be? Can
you look at yourself and say honestly, well, now there's no
room for improvement here? Well, I don't think you can. I know I can't. And improvement
for what? Well, because we're not what
we ought to be. And John says this now. He says it doesn't
even yet appear what we shall be. We haven't even seen what
we're going to be. Now, I know some folks think
they have, or they think half of them or part of them is. But
that's not so now. We're born again. We have the
indwelling presence of the Spirit, the truth implanted in our hearts,
you see. And we're spiritual people if
we're in Christ now. But we haven't even seen what
we're going to be. Now, he says it hasn't even appeared,
but we know this. Now, we have confidence of this.
We know that when he shall appear, when Christ comes again, that's
what he's talking about, the second coming of Christ. And
I don't know when, it doesn't matter when, but when he does,
he is going to come again. But when he does, we shall be
like him. In other words, we're going to
have an incorruptible spiritual body like Christ has. and will be sinlessly perfect.
Then and only then will we be what we ought to be in every
way. Now he says, for we shall see
him as he is. And I love that, because to be like him is to
see him as he is. In other words, right now, we
see through a glass darkly. We do see, and that's the power
of God, isn't it? If you've seen the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, if you've seen with the eye of
faith, you know, the Bible speaks of those who have eyes, but they
don't see. They have ears, but they don't
hear. Well, if you've been born again by the Spirit, you have
spiritual eyes and spiritual ears, and you see and hear things
that the natural man doesn't see and hear, that you didn't
see and hear before God gave you spiritual eyes and spiritual
ears. Isn't that right? And so we see,
but we see through a glass darkly. But then when he shall appear
and we're glorified with him, we'll see perfectly. With no,
not, we won't be through a glass darkly then, it'll be just clear
crystal. And I don't know what that's
gonna be like. I know it's gonna be so glorious. Paul, I know
when he, God gave him a vision of the third heaven, and he said
he didn't have human words to describe it. So I'm certainly
not going to stand up here before you and try to do it, but I know
it's going to be something, and we'll be perfectly like him.
And that's our destiny. That's the destiny of every sinner
who has Christ for his hope. Look at verse 3. Now, here's
our motive and our lofty goal. He says, "...and every man that
hath this hope in him." Every man who has this hope in Christ,
this certain assurance of glorification in Christ, because of what Christ
accomplished, and the fact that he's coming again. Every man
purifies himself even as he is pure. In other words, we seek
to be like him even now. Not to be saved, but because
we already are. Not to become sons or children
of God, but because he made us so. We already are by his grace. And so we're to strive to be
pure in our thoughts, in our motives, in our conduct, in every
way, because we're to strive to be like him. We're to strive
to obey him. Now, look at verse 4. Now, you
see, our efforts cannot make us pure. Now, don't misunderstand
this in verse 3. When we purify ourselves, he's
not talking about that our work is pure. What he's talking about
is our goal. We're not what we ought to be,
not what we should be, but we ought to strive to be that way.
We ought to strive to be like Christ. And it's not that our
works make us holy. Our holiness is in him. But we
ought to strive to be like him, to honor him, to glorify him,
out of thanksgiving, out of love. So now he says in verse 4, now
listen to this, he says, he says, whosoever commit a sin transgresses
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. Now
there's some phrases in these next verses that may give some
people trouble. But the key to understanding
this is keep it in its context. What is John speaking of here?
What's he talking about? What's his issue? What's his
subject? What's he writing this letter for? He says, whosoever
commit a sin, well, we know we're all sinners. You know, we've
said that before. Back here in verse 29 of chapter
2, he spoke of everyone that doeth righteousness is born of
him. Well, what is righteousness?
Righteousness is perfect satisfaction to God's law and justice. Perfection,
that's what it is, perfect obedience. The opposite of righteousness
here in verse 4 of chapter 3 is committing sin. You either do
righteousness or you commit sin. Sin is transgression of the law.
Righteousness is obedience to the law on both precepts and
penalty. To be righteous is to be perfectly conformed to God's
will by way of commandment. That's what it is. Now, how can
we who are sinners do righteousness? Don't we commit sin? Somebody
said, yes, but sin is not our habit. Now, think about that
before you say that. Sin is not your habit? Have you
ever had one second in your life that you could call sinlessly
perfect? Well, sounds like a habit to me. Sounds like we got a bad
habit, don't we? We can't break it. That's why
he's coming again, and that's why these vile bodies have to
be changed. Somebody said, well, sin is not your tenor of life,
that's your bent of life. Well, think about that, too.
Now, you've got to be honest, walk in the light as he is in
the light. Compare yourself to Christ, and
then see how we come out. You say, well, I'm trying to
love everybody. Christ didn't try to love everybody,
he did love everybody. his people, that is, every one
of his sheep. Is that right? You say, I try
to love my brethren. Christ didn't try to love his
brethren. He loved his brethren perfectly. He did it. You say,
well, I'm trying to do the will of the Father. Christ didn't
try to do it. He did it. Every jot and tittle. You say, well, I'm trying to
be the best person I can be. And the Bible comes back and
says, man at his best is altogether vanity. Well, we ought to be
the best that we can be. But now understand this, the
best that we can be is not good enough to equal righteousness.
That's why we need grace. That's why we need a Savior.
That's why we're here, hopefully. That's why we desire to exalt
Him. So He loved His people, His sheep,
His church, perfectly. So think about that, compare.
Nothing within us, even as born-again people, is perfect and uncontaminated
with sin, except the Holy Spirit himself who resides within us.
He's uncontaminated, he's God. The Holy Spirit resides within
us, he's perfect, he's righteous, but he's not changed us to make
us so within ourselves. Has the Holy Spirit enabled you
to have a perfect thought? Has the Holy Spirit enabled you
to perform a perfect deed? Somebody says, no, but they're
covered by the blood of Christ. Yes, they are, and the reason
they need to be is because they're imperfect. They're imperfect. Men have always, listen, from
the fall of man on, religious men and women have always tried
to conceive some notions of sinless perfection within themselves.
And it will not work. It will not hold water, scripturally. or even logically. It will not
work. You just can't do it. And it's
always going to end up being an attempt to exhaust the sinner
and to bring down the Savior. Bring down the Savior. That's
why you have men today trying to talk about sinless perfection
in themselves and a sinful Savior. It's just another form of it.
I'm telling you, and it's confusing, and it's not right. Stop it. That's right. This is an issue
of the glory of Christ, and he's the one we need. You think about
this. Now, what is it to do righteousness?
Well, we spoke of that. To do righteousness is mainly
to abide in Christ. That's why I entitled this message,
Abiding in Christ. It's to believe in Christ and
continue in him by faith. You see, if you're trying to
be saved based on your work, You're not doing righteousness.
You're committing sin. If you're trying to be holy by
your work and righteous, if you're trying to establish your own
righteousness before God for your standing, for your foundation,
you're not doing righteousness, my friend. You're committing
sin. Doing righteousness is realizing
and admitting that our doing is not our righteousness. Christ
is. So what are we talking about?
Well, we're talking about abiding in Christ. Now, let me give you
these three things about abiding in Christ. Here they are. This
is in the context of 1 John. This is what he's talking about.
Abiding in Christ, number one, is to believe and rest in him
for our whole salvation. That's what abiding in Christ
is. with resting in Him, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, pleading His blood for the forgiveness of all my
sins, even the sinfulness of my best efforts to be like Him,
even my failings, and even my rebelliousness. Looking to Christ,
that's number one. Abiding in Christ, resting in
Him. You know, back in the Old Testament,
any time we studied the Jewish feast days, do you remember?
And every one of those feast days always began with a Sabbath. And it was a Sabbath day. Now
that Sabbath was a picture of a sinner's rest in Christ and
his finished work. Christ finished the work at Calvary.
He put away our sins, the scripture is going to teach us here. He
put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. He was made sin,
Christ, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." Our righteousness was established at Calvary when
he said it's finished. And he was the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that what? Believers. Do you
believe in him? Do you rest in him? Is he your
Sabbath? See, we don't keep a Sabbath
day to day. Christ is our Sabbath. Sunday's not our Sabbath. No,
sir. Christ is our Sabbath. We meet
on Sunday to worship Him. We meet on Sunday to serve Him. We meet on Sunday to praise Him
who is our Sabbath. You see that? It's His blood
and His righteousness. That's where abiding in Christ
begins. Here's the second thing. Abiding in Christ is abiding
in His Word. What is his word? Whatever he
says. Isn't that right? Christ is the living word. He's
the Logos. In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God. The word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. He's the incarnate word, he himself. He is the written word from Genesis
to Revelation, and this word concerns him. He told the Pharisees,
you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life. They are they which testify of me. He sat his disciples down
before he ascended, and he taught them how to preach Christ and
him crucified from the Old Testament, from Moses and the prophets and
the Psalms." His word. Now, this is your guidebook
right here, folks. That's why the Bible tells us.
That's why God's word tells us to study. to show ourselves approved
unto God, workmen that need us not to be ashamed, rightly dividing,
rightly discerning the word of truth." That's why it tells us
in Hebrews 5, Paul admonished those who professed to believe
among the Hebrews, and he said, you're unskillful in the word
of righteousness. You can't do righteousness without
the word of righteousness. Well, here it is. So abiding
in Christ means, number one, to believe and rest in him for
our whole salvation, and it means to abide in his word. That's
what John says here, and that's what the book says everywhere.
Thirdly, to abide in Christ is to love the brethren. And John
has a lot to say about that in the last part of this chapter
and on into chapter 4, loving the brethren. In other words,
we love those whom Christ loves. We love those whom the world
hates. We take sides with brethren against the world. You see, we
have a fellowship with one another. And somebody says, well, what
about loving Christ? Well, if you want to measure your love
for Christ, the Bible teaches this. Measure your love for your
brethren. That's what the Lord says. Remember
when he said that he would separate the sheep from the goats? And
he told them, he said, when he told the goats, he said, I was
in prison, you did not visit me, I was hungry, you did not
feed me, I was naked, you did not clothe me. And they said,
well, when did we not do that? He said, in that you did it not
to the least of these my brethren, you didn't do it to me. And on
the opposite side of the sheep, he said, you clothed me, you
fed me, you visited me. And they said, when did we ever
do that? He said, in that you've done
it to the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me. So there
you have it. That's abided in Christ, believing
and resting in him, abiding in his word, and loving the brethren. Now let's look at it here from
verse 4. Look at verse 4, 1 John 3. The first thing that he brings
out is the problem of sin. Now here's the problem. The problem of evil. And when
I say the problem of evil, I'm not talking about where it comes
from. I'm talking about where it is. Listen to it. He says in verse 4, Whosoever
commit a sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. Now, as I said, we're all sinners
continually. There's only two types of people
in this world, sinners saved by the grace of God and sinners
still lost in their sins. There's no in-between. There's
no gray area there. There are sinners who have no
hope of salvation. They may think they do. But if
your hope is outside of Christ, you really have no hope. You
just don't know it. You may say, well, I know when I lay down
my head to die, I'm going to end up in heaven. If you have
that confidence and that hope outside of Christ and Him crucified,
outside of the grace of God, you're going to be amazed in
a negative way. You're going to be like those
in Matthew 7 when he said, depart from me, I never knew you. You
see, there is no hope of eternal life outside of Christ. So there
are sinners who have no hope, and then there are sinners who
have hope. That's what he said in verse 3. Every man that has
this hope, not a hope, did you see that in verse 3? That's a
definite article. Every man that has this hope,
this specific hope, one hope, this hope in Christ, this hope
of salvation, eternal life, glory, righteousness in Him, all right? purifies himself. There are sinners
who are yet lost in their sins, and there are sinners who have
been found and who have found the way. We were all lost sheep
by nature, but God found us and brought us home, and we found
him. There are sinners who are unregenerate,
that's spiritual death, and then there are sinners who have been
born again by the Spirit. But all our sinners all continual
practicers of sin, unless you could honestly say, I've had
at least a moment of sinless perfection in my life. You can't. But now there is a sin in which
one group does not commit sin. Look down at verse 9. Now listen
to this. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. Now, you take a statement like
that on its own, it'll scare you to death, or it ought to.
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. That's the way
it reads. That's the original. You can't
finagle that round. I mean, it's there. So you've
got to ask the question, well, have I been born of God? What
does that mean? I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I believe I'm a sinner saved
by the grace of God. But it says here, those who are
born of God does not commit sin. What does that mean? Is he trying
to un-Christian all of us, including himself? Didn't he say back over
here in 1 John 1, he says in verse 8, if we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. What
he's saying here, now look at this. He says, now if the truth
is in you, you can't abide in the word unless the word is in
you. That's one of John's main points. So if the truth is in
you, then you will have to say you're a sinner. If you say you
have no sin, then the truth is not in you. What does it mean,
the truth is in you? It means you've been born again.
Begotten again by the word of truth, James 1.18. That's the
element. The Holy Spirit is the sovereign
agent of the new birth, and the Word of God is the instrument.
And what does he do? He gives spiritual life and knowledge,
and he imparts and implants the Word of God within our hearts,
in our consciousness. Indelibly, as they say. It means
it cannot be erased. That's why those who leave the
Word of God, those who leave the Gospel, those who leave Christ,
what does the Bible say? They never have been born again.
They never were saved. Because if the Holy Spirit gives
you that unction and implants that word in your heart, it will
not leave you. Now, you can lose sight of it. You can even at
times walk after the flesh and not after the spirit, but it'll
never leave you. That's why I had Brother Jim
read those two Psalms. You know, that Psalm 15 is a
psalm of perseverance, a psalm of abiding. Who will abide in
the Lord's tabernacle? Who will abide in Christ? And
then he goes on to give the evidence. It's that the sinner is saved
by the grace of God. Psalm 16 is a psalm of preservation. Preserve me, O God. You see,
if you abide in Christ, I'm going to tell you why you do it. Because
God keeps you. God preserves you. If he let
his hand of sovereign, preserving grace off of you, you'd fall
in a second, wouldn't you? I would too. We persevere because
God preserves. You see, our abiding and our
persevering is not a condition we must meet in order to be glorified. Our abiding and persevering is
an evidence that we've been born again by the Spirit, that he
indwells us, and that God keeps us. He preserves us. You see? But here he says in verse 8,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. and the
truth is not in us. Verse 9 says, if we confess our
sins, he's faced for them just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But now if we say that we've
not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. We've
not been born again. So over here, go back to 1 John
3, 9. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Now that's
what it says. Who's it referring to? What does
it mean? Well, look back up at verse 4. John said, whosoever
committeth sin transgresses also the law. Now what does John mean
by transgressing the law? He's talking about something
specific here. He's talking about the law of
grace. He's talking about the law of
the gospel. Now it's true, sin is transgression
of the law, period. But John's talking about the
law of faith. He's talking about the law of love. the law of liberty. Look back at 1 John 2 and verse
3. He says here, 1 John 2 and verse
3, Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. And you know what a lot of people
have done with that verse. They talk about the ten commandments.
What's it talking about? What are his commandments? Well,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's
his commandment. Love the brethren, that's his commandment. Repent
of dead work and idolatry, that's his commandment. That's what
he's talking about. And he goes on to say that, especially
about loving the brethren. But when he says transgression
of the law, he's talking about what James called the perfect
law of liberty. What is that perfect law of liberty
that James speaks of in James 1? It's the gospel. And let me
give you an example of what I'm talking about. When it says,
keep his commandments, I challenge anybody to find one commandment
of Christ to a sinner that says, now, you keep these commandments
and you shall be saved. Now, somebody got me on that,
but I got them back. I shouldn't have. No, they went
to the rich young man. You know the rich young ruler?
Well, didn't Christ tell him that in order to be saved he
should keep the commandments? No. That's not what he said.
The rich young ruler was not looking for salvation. You see,
only sinners look for salvation. If you don't have sins, you don't
need salvation. If you're not a sinner, you don't
need Christ. You don't need grace. You're
alright. The rich young man wanted to know what he could do to inherit
eternal life. That's what he asked. He thought
it was his inheritance, eternal life. What could he do to earn
his inheritance of eternal life? He wouldn't ask him for salvation,
as a sinner would. And Christ said, well, keep the
commandments. In other words, if you deserve eternal life,
you've got to be perfect. And you remember what he said?
Remember what the rich young man said? He said, well, I've
kept them from my youth up. You see, he wasn't seeking salvation
from sin. He didn't think he was a sinner.
So Christ never commanded anybody to keep the commandments in order
to be saved. To keep the law. But he commanded,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Rest
in him who kept the commandments. Stop trying to establish your
own righteousness before God and rest in his righteousness. Stop trying to do penance in
order to gain forgiveness. Rest in him in whom all the forgiveness
of sin is, Christ and him crucified." Do you see the difference? Then he said, "...love the brethren
from that." In John's meaning, everyone who resides and abides
in Christ and in whom the word of truth resides and abides doeth
righteousness. Everyone who does not reside
and abide and rest in Christ, and in whom the word of truth
does not abide and rest in, commit a sin." That's what he's talking
about. These two are in absolute contrast. Look back at 1 John
2 and verse 19. Think about this. Now, who's
he talking about here? They went out from us. But they were not
of us." Now, that's who John is talking about, that commit
of sin, that transgresses the law, they who went out from us,
they who were not of us. They weren't born again. They
didn't rest in Christ, truly. 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. Let me show you a scripture.
Now, that term, commit a sin, whosoever commit a sin, look
at John chapter 8. This is the first recorded scripture
where John and the other disciples heard that term, commit a sin. He that commit a sin. Remember
what he said. Sin is transgression of the law.
He that committeth sin. Look at John chapter 8 and look
at verse 29. This is what John himself, as
well as the other disciples, were taught on this subject.
Christ is speaking of himself. He says, he that sent me is with
me, speaking of his Father. And he says, The Father hath
not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him.
Christ said that. Can you say that? That you do
always those things that please God. I can't say that. Can you? Nobody can here. And he says
in verse 30, As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Now what he's talking about is they professed that they believed
on him. Verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word." Now that
word continue, it means to abide. If you persevere, if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Now I want you to notice
the language here because it's important. He did not say, if
you continue in my word, you will be made my disciples. He
didn't say, if you continue in my word, you will become one
of my disciples. He said, if you continue in my
word, then are you my disciples indeed. What's he saying? True
disciples, made so by the grace of God in salvation, will continue
in his word. The continuing is the evidence,
not the cause. If he makes you a disciple of
Christ, how does he make you a disciple? In the new birth.
He brings you unto the word. gives you life, implants it in
your heart, and you're his disciple. That's a follower of Christ,
a learner is what that means. You know the word disciple means
learn? It means you're going to learn more and more and more
and more of him. And so he says, if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And he says in verse
32, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. What truth? The truth of the gospel. the
law of liberty, the law of grace, you see, the law of love. Well,
look at verse 33 now. They answered him, We be Abraham's
seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you
shall be made free? Now, this is the Pharisees. And
they assume, well, because we're natural-born children of Abraham,
we're the seed of Abraham, then we're already children of God,
we're already disciples of God, we never were in bondage. How
can you say we'll be made free? Well, then he makes the point.
Now, look at verse 34. Now, listen to what he's saying
here. "...Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." Committed sin. Who's he talking
to there? He's talking to lost people.
He's talking to unregenerate. He's talking to those who will
not turn to him and look to him and rest in him. And he says,
those who commit a sin, they are the servant of sin. Servant
there meaning they're in bondage to sin. Sin has them tamed. And he says in verse 35, and
the servant abides not in the house forever. But the son abides
ever. That slave who's embonded has
no permanent abiding position in the household of the father.
There's master and there's slave. And that slave's position in
the household of his master is always conditioned on his performing
the duties of his slavehood. And when he stops that, he's
out. But a son is different. He said, but the Son, the Son,
abided forever. If you're a son, you have a permanent
abiding position in the household of your father. And that never
changed. Look at verse 36. If the Son, if Christ, therefore,
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Christ makes you free. Now that's
real freedom. That's liberty. What is it to
commit sin there in that context? It's to be in bondage to sin
and to Satan and the law. It's to be wrapped up in self
and the flesh. It's to be an unbeliever. That's
what John's talking about in 1 John 3. That's exactly what
he's talking about. And notice on in John 8 here,
look at verse 37. He said, I know that you're Abraham's
seed, that is physically, but you seek to kill me because my
word hath no place in you. You see? Christ here connects
the freedom of a son with the word having been placed in him. And he connects the bondage of
sin, the committing of sin there, with my word hath no place in
you. Now, does the word have a place
in you? Does it have a home in you, in your heart, in my heart? Go to Romans chapter 6. Now, this is the way you interpret
Scripture with Scripture. And that's the first thing I,
you know, whenever I come to a verse that kind of perplexes
me, I say, well, I'm not sure what it means. Go back to where
that term is used, where that subject is dealt with the first
time by our Lord, and there it is. Here's an unregenerate man,
and he says, whosoever committed sin is a servant of sin. And
a servant abides not in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. My word has no place in you."
Look here at Romans chapter 6, look at verse 17. He's speaking
here to regenerate people, to believers. And look what he says,
but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, past tense.
Now, are they still sinners? We'll go over and read Romans
7, verses 14 and on and see. Yes, they're still sinners, but
they're not in bondage to sin. They're not slaves to it in this
sense. And he says why. Now, look here.
"...but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered you." That word, form, there is like a stamp. It doesn't mean a form like a
smoke or an apparition. The word, form, there is a stamp,
like a tool and die. You know, a stamp, and it's stamped
on your heart, and it can't be removed. That's what it means.
You have obeyed that form of doctrine which was delivered
to you. Now, being then made free from
sin, you became the servants of righteousness. What is it to be a servant of
righteousness? It's to believe in and rest in
Christ for all righteousness, for all salvation. It's to abide
in his word. stamped on your heart. It's to
love the brethren. We're members of the same family.
And I'll go back to 1 John 3, and I'll conclude. Whosoever,
verse 4, whosoever commit a sin, whosoever is in bondage to sin, transgresses also the law, for
sin is the transgression of the law. You see here, All of this
teaches us that without Christ, all we can do is commit a sin. That's it. We cannot do righteousness
at all. He says in verse 5, you know
that He was manifested to take away our sins. He bore them away,
and in Him is no sin. In Christ personally is no sin,
and as we are considered in Him, we have no sin, as we're considered
in Him. Because in him God will not lay
any charge to our account. And in ourselves we're sinners,
but he took them away. And he's coming again to receive
us with himself. He's coming again to make us
like him. Oh, Lord, teach us your way. All right.