Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow
along in your Bibles, I'll be preaching from the book of 1
John chapter three. I'm continuing preaching through
this, and we're gonna begin with verse four. The title of this
message is In Christ is No Sin. In Christ is No Sin. Now, if you followed the messages
before, you know that the apostle John is talking about the true
children of God here, as opposed to those who give no evidence
of being children of God. The true children of God, those
who are chosen of God, who were given to Christ, Christ has made
their surety, who are justified by God's grace in Christ, forgiven
of all their sins by the blood of Christ, and declared righteous
by His righteousness imputed. Those who've been adopted into
the family of God. We'll be talking about that in
later messages, the adoption of grace. And they're children
of God by the adoption of grace. And those who have been redeemed
by the blood of Christ. These are the ones for whom Christ
died on the cross. Not all without exception. but
all those who John is talking about who give evidence of being
children of God. And their first realization of
being a child of God comes by the work of the Holy Spirit in
the new birth. And so they are made children
of God, not only by God's election of grace, the adoption of grace,
justified and redeemed by the blood of Christ, but by the spirit
of grace, regeneration and conversion, spiritual birth. and they're
born into the kingdom of God. And if you're born into the kingdom
of God by the Spirit, you cannot be cast out. You cannot lose
salvation. If you claim to be a child of
God and claim to believe the truth, but then turn against
it, you were never saved to begin with. And we've already dealt
with that over in 1 John 2. And so last week I dealt with
verse three, and every man that had this hope in him, this assurance
of salvation in Christ, by Christ, by God's grace, based upon the
blood and righteousness of Christ, his merits, that person purifies
himself even as Christ is pure, which means that our sins were
put away by the blood of Jesus. That's the purification that
he's talking about. To be pure means to be cleansed
of all sin. Well, how can I be cleansed of
all sin? You see, even as a person saved
by grace, I'm still a sinner. To be pure here, to be cleansed
here does not mean that I'm no longer a sinner in the sense
that I now don't sin at all. No, sir, I'm a sinner saved by
grace. But to be pure means to be cleansed
from all sin. And we sing a hymn about that. What can wash away my sins? And what do we say? Nothing but
the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. One of the verses in that hymn
says, this is all my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Now, John in verse four, he makes this statement. He says, whosoever
committeth sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. Now, there's no way of getting
around this. Sin is sin, and you cannot make
it any more than what it is. To commit sin, a lot of translations
will say those who practice lawlessness. Well that's just simply another
way of saying we sin, all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. And how is sin to be measured? By the perfection
of righteousness which is found in the law. And so anything that
doesn't equal the perfection of righteousness that God's law
requires is sin. Now the law can be summed up
in love God perfectly, love your neighbor as yourself. If you
don't love God perfectly, perfectly, without any rival within your heart, if you
don't love your neighbor, and understand Christ taught this,
that your neighbor can be your worst enemy. It's any human being,
not just your friends and your family and the ones that like
you. Love your neighbors yourself. If you don't do that perfectly,
you're transgressing the law. You're actually practicing lawlessness,
we would say. Now that's why there's no hope
for people like us, except by the grace of God, which reigns
through righteousness, not by us unto eternal life, but by
Jesus Christ the Lord. The Bible tells us in Romans
10 and verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law, the fulfilling
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. If
you're a believer, nothing has made you righteous that you've
done or tried to do or weren't able to do. What you believe
is that Christ alone is your righteousness. So we attain the
perfection of righteousness, which is required by the law,
not in ourselves, not by working, but in Christ. And that's what
he says here. Look at verse four. He says,
whosoever commit a sin transgresses also the law. Sin is the transgression
of the law. So apart from Christ, being my
surety, my substitute, my Redeemer, my life giver, my preserver,
apart from Him by the grace of God, I have no hope. And you
have no hope. If it weren't for Christ, who
is the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the
Father but by me, he said, there's no hope. There's no hope. Listen, friend, I'm not here
just to put down people. But I'm telling you, there's
no hope in Buddha. There's no hope in Muhammad.
There's no hope in any other who claims to be or to be equal
with God. There's only hope in Christ. And any religion that speaks
differently is a false religion, even if it calls itself Christianity. There's a form of what they call Christianity today
called progressive Christianity, by which they say they recognize
that there are other ways of salvation but Jesus Christ. That's a lie. That's a false
gospel. Get away from it. You don't need
that. Sin is transgression of the law.
And if sin is imputed or charged to you, you're damned forever.
So our only hope of salvation is to be found in Christ, and
so this is what verse five says. And you know, that is believers
know, that Christ was manifested to take away our sins. Now how
did he do that? He did it by his death on the
cross. That's how he purged our sins. Purged them away, cleansed them.
The sins of God's elect were imputed, charged to Christ, and
He became incarnate, God manifest in the flesh, that's who Christ
is, God-man. He was made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. He became
subject to the law, having the sins of God's elect charged to
Him, and He substituted Himself in their place to die on the
cross. and pay for their sins and satisfy
the justice of God against them. And he did it. He took them away. And how do you know he did it?
He arose again the third day. He didn't stay in the grave.
My friend, there's a bunch of religions in this world, false
religions, but there's one empty tomb and that's Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory. He's the one who arose from the
dead. He went unto the Father, ascended unto the Father, and
is sat down on the right hand of the Father, ever living to
make intercession for His people. And so, you know, verse five
here, you know that he, Christ, was manifested to take away our
sins. And how did he do it? He died
in our place, in the place of his people. He died for his sheep,
he says in John chapter 10. How do you know if you're one
of his sheep? Well, Christ told the Pharisees,
he said, you believe not because you're not of my sheep. If you
go through this life in unbelief and die in that state, you never
were one of His sheep. He said, My sheep hear My voice. I know them. They follow Me. In John 6.37, He said, All that
the Father giveth Me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will of
him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. That's
clear, isn't it? So he was manifested to take
away our sins. By one offering, Hebrews 10,
14, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those
who God set apart, Christ completed the work forever. And so he was
manifested to take away our sins. And then here's this phrase,
and in him is no sin. Now what does that mean? Now
a lot of people, when they go to that phrase, they say, well,
in Christ personally, There's no sin. Now that's true. That statement is true. I don't believe that's what it
means here, but it is true. Christ had no sin. Christ knew no sin. Christ contracted
no sin. Christ was never contaminated
by our sins. He consorted and he ate with
publicans and sinners, but he didn't become one of them. And
when he died on the cross, he did not die as a sinful person. He died as a substitute upon
whom sin had been charged and accounted and imputed. He was
a sin bearer, not a sinner. So when 2 Corinthians 5.21 says
that Christ was made sin, it does not mean that He was made
a sinner. It does not mean that sin entered into Him and contaminated
Him. His thoughts, His mind, His heart
were all pure and perfect even through that suffering. But He
was made guilty by the imputation of the sins of His people to
Him. He took responsibility to pay our debt. It was accounted
to Him. And he died justly under the
wrath of God, his father, for the sins of his people. He did
it willingly. He said, no man takes my life
from me, I lay it down. That's why he came to do. And
in doing that, he satisfied justice to where sin is never charged
to the ones for whom he died. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. So in him is no
sin. Certainly the statement generally
and in other scriptures can mean that in Christ personally there's
no sin. But what I believe this is talking
about is how his people, his sheep, the ones for whom he died,
God's elect, stand before God in him as represented by him. Now, what is it to be in Christ?
Well, that's a big subject in the Bible. For example, to be
in Christ is an eternal matter. God, before the foundation of
the world, chose a people in Christ. He gave us to Christ. He put all the responsibility
of their salvation on Christ. So they were in Christ by representation. And then God's people are in
Christ legally. That's our justification. So
that when Christ died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he arose again, we arose again. And he died under sin
and justified us by that work on the cross, the blood of Christ. And so that brings forth the
legal aspect in redemption. We are in Christ redemptively.
Again, when He died, He died for His people. He was buried
for them. He arose again for them. He's
seated in the right hand of the Father, at the right hand of
the Father for them. And then in time, we are brought
into Christ spiritually by the new birth. That's our spiritual
union with Christ. Now, if we've been brought into
Christ spiritually by the power of the Spirit, That shows that
Christ has died for my sins. He's put them away. He's purged
them away. They cannot be charged to me. They cannot be imputed to me.
So as I stand before God in Christ, there's no sin charged to me.
God said he will remember our sins no more. What does that
mean? Does that mean God forgets something? No, God never changes.
It means he will not hold them against us again. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth.
Who is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again, and seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living, to make intercession for us. So read it again. You know that He, Christ, was
manifested, made known, to take away our sins. And He did that,
and as we stand in Him, there is no sin charged to us. Now,
we are still sinners in this life. As I exist in this life,
I'm still a sinner, but I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm a sinner
whose sins have been washed away. by the blood of Christ. I'm a
sinner who stands righteous in God's sight because Christ's
righteousness has been imputed to me. Now one day when I die
and go to be with the Lord, sin will be totally obliterated from
existence within me. I'll be perfectly, perfectly
sinless. So in Him is no sin in that sense. And then, now who can claim this? Who can claim that I'm in Christ
and sin cannot be charged to me? My sins have been washed
away. I'm forgiven by the blood of
Christ. I'm righteous in God's sight.
Who can claim this? Well, look at verse six. Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. This blessing, of having no sin
legally, not charged with sin, charged with righteousness, even
though I'm a sinner saved by grace, this blessing is only
for those who give the evidence of abiding in Christ. And so when he talks about sinning,
the rest of this, these next few verses, what he's talking
about is those who do not abide in Christ. They sin. Now look at this, and I'll deal
with this more later on, but just to give you a preview. Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not. Now, if that means that if you're
in Christ, you've stopped sinning, you never sin again, then my
friend, none of us are saved. Now you may not want to admit
that, but it's just the truth. I'm not saved, I still sin. I
still have a battle within. I still need the continual forgiveness
of all sins and the intercessory work of Christ, back in 1 John
2. So what is this talking about?
Whosoever abideth Him sinneth not. Whosoever continues in Christ
will not leave Him. To leave Him, my friend, shows
that it's nothing but sin. So whosoever abideth in him,
continueth in him, believes in him, rests in him, sinneth not.
Whosoever sinneth, whosoever leaves him. Keep the context
now. They went out from us. Whosoever
leaves him hath not seen him, neither known him. He's never
been saved. And so he says in verse seven, Little children,
let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as Christ is righteous. That's what the he
is. If I do righteousness, that gives evidence that I'm
in a righteous standing before God, even as Christ is righteous. Now that may be confusing to
you, and I'm sorry if it is, but listen. What is it to do
righteousness? It is to follow Christ, abide
in Christ, rest in Christ for righteousness. It's not attaining
righteousness by my efforts. It's not making myself righteous
by my works. That's impossible. The works
of a sinner cannot make that sinner righteous. Even a saved
sinner cannot be made righteous by their works. The only righteousness
that I have is Christ, His righteousness imputed to me. Now, out of that,
I have life, spiritual life, faith, repentance, perseverance,
abiding, but that all involves looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. So if I do righteousness, if
somebody says, well that's right living. Okay, what is it to live
rightly in God's sight? It's to look to Christ, follow
Him, rest in Him, plead His blood in righteousness. That's right
living. Follow Him, yes. Not to be righteous,
but because you already are in Him. Not trying to work your
way into God's favor. So, Those who are doing righteousness
give evidence that they have a right standing with God in
Christ, even as Christ Himself is righteousness. How can I say
that? He is my righteousness. It's
righteousness imputed. Jeremiah 23 in verse five and
six speaks of that, when he talks about the prophecy of the coming
of the Messiah, and he says, he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. That's his name. Jehovah Sid
Canu, the Lord our righteousness. And if you jump over to Jeremiah
33, verses 15 and 16, you'll see the same prophecy, except
one difference. In Jeremiah 33, 15 through 16,
it says, her name, she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Well, who's the she there? That's
his church, his bride. You see, Christ and his bride
are married together, united together, and she takes his name
because he is her righteousness. So those who do righteousness,
who live by faith in Christ, right living, resting in him
for all righteousness before God. His merits alone, they give
evidence that they are righteous. They have a right standing with
God, even as Christ is righteous. And so he says in verse eight,
he that committed sin is of the devil. Well, now if that's talking
about any and all sin, then what does that say about any of it?
that were of the devil. Over in 1 John 5, John makes
the statement, I believe it's verse 20, he said, we are of
God, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one, wickedness,
that's the devil. But he that commit a sin here
is those who left the gospel. It's all believers in that sense,
but they left the gospel, left Christ and turned against him.
He said, 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. Well, the devil was instrumental to bring in
death and sin, sin and death. Christ is instrumental and successful
to bring in forgiveness and righteousness. So in a sense, he overturned
the works of the devil. That was predicted back in Genesis
chapter three, verse 15, when Christ was prophesied as the
seed of woman, the woman seed, whom the devil would bruise his
heel, but he would crush the devil's head. And Christ said
that when he would go upon the cross and die, that the prince
of this world would be cast out. And the devil, who is the accuser
of the brethren, he would be cast down, no longer to be able
to accuse the brethren. His accusations could never stick,
because again, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It's God that justifies. So he
says, look back at verse seven, let no man deceive you on these
issues. Now we're gonna talk more about
this in the next message, but look at verse nine. He says,
whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. That's those
who have been born again by the Spirit. and they do not commit
sin. What sin? They don't leave Christ. How do you know that's what he's
talking about? Look at the next line. For his seed remaineth in him. Christ's seed remains in him. Now who is Christ's seed? That's
the offspring of his work. The travail of his soul, you
remember Isaiah 53 speaks of he shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. That's the ones for whom he died.
who will be born again. And he says, they will remain
in him. And he cannot sin. They cannot
leave Christ. They cannot apostatize. They
cannot go back because he is born of God. Because they're
born of God. And if you're born of God, what
does that mean? That means God chose you before the foundation
of the world. Your name was written in the
Lamb's book of life. before this world ever began,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That means that
you were justified in Christ. He was set up to be your surety
and all your sins, even though you had not even been born yet,
were committed to Him as the surety of the covenant. That
means you were justified in that sense. His righteousness imputed
to you. That means that when He came
to earth, He came to suffer, bleed, and die on the cross to
put away the sins of His people. That's redemption, substitution
and redemption. So if you're born again, what
does that mean? That means you have a hope of salvation, the
assurance of salvation, the certainty of salvation that's all wrapped
up in Christ Jesus, the Lord of glory, the Lord your righteousness. And so you cannot sin in the
sense of you cannot leave him. My friend, to be without Christ
means to be drowning in a sea of sin. To be in Christ, even
though you're still a sinner, means that your sins have been
taken away, purged away. washed away, paid for in full,
righteousness established and has been imputed to you, and
you've been given life from the dead, the Holy Spirit resides
within you, and He will never leave you, and He's given you
a new life, spiritual life from the dead, and you won't leave
Christ. Persevere, abiding in Christ,
because we're preserved by the grace and power of God in Christ. He said, no man shall pluck them
out of my Father's hand. No one. And so what he tells
us here, you cannot leave Christ. You cannot ever be lost again. You struggle, you may stray,
but he will not let you go. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.