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 and thankful that the
Lord has brought you our way. I hope this program is a blessing
to you. And if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles,
I'm going to be preaching from the last part of 1 John 2. 1 John 2. The title of the message today
is Doing Righteousness. And that comes from verse 29.
We'll get there in just a moment. Doing Righteousness. But understand
here, in this passage, the Apostle John is talking about abiding
in Christ, continuing in Christ, believing the gospel, and continuing
without leaving it, because there were certain ones who had claimed
to be believers, and then later on left it, and he says they
were never saved to begin with. I urge you to get the last few
messages on this passage, because I've dealt with that in a great
deal. But what he says basically, just to catch you up today, is
this. If you are truly a sinner saved
by God's grace in Christ, truly saved, truly born again by the
Spirit, you can never forsake Christ. You cannot lose it. You
cannot save it. You cannot leave it. You cannot
reject it. Now that doesn't mean you cannot
stray a little while or you cannot get lazy or caught up in sin
and things like that. You can never totally, ultimately
forsake Christ and His truth and His people. And I know people
that automatically say, well, that sounds like once saved,
always saved. Well, it is if Christ saves you. If the one
who saves you is God the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit,
by His grace, if He saved you, He saved you by grace, He'll
keep you by grace, He'll bring you to glory. And that's not
an open invitation to disregard the word of God and to say, well,
then I don't have to obey. No, that's not what that does.
That sets within a believer, a sinner saved by grace, a real
godly motive for obedience, which is love and grace and gratitude. That's the motive for obedience.
But by nature, we're legalists. In other words, we're gonna do
it because we're afraid of getting thrown into hell, or we're mercenaries. We're doing it because we wanna
earn our rewards. We don't earn our rewards, Christ
is our reward. The Bible says we're blessed
with all spiritual blessings in Him. So John's point up to
this, he says basically that if God saved you, if Christ is
truly your Savior, Your sins imputed charge to Him and He
died for your sins, His righteousness to you. And the Holy Spirit has
given you life from the dead in the new birth and brought
you, convinced you, and brought you to faith in Christ and repentance.
You can't lose it, that's an anointing. He says that, it's
an unction, an anointing, a power from God. It's not the power
that you have. It's not the power of your will.
You know, most people today think it is, you know, well, if I'm
willing, then that's gonna make it all right. No, God has to
make us willing, the scripture says. He has to give us a new
heart. He has to cause us to walk in
his statutes. That's what he does for his chosen
people in Christ. So it's not your will or your
works, or your determinations, it's God's promise. And look
at what he says in verse, this is verse 27, 1 John 2, 27. But
the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you. Now, if you claim to believe
the gospel, the true gospel, and later on leave it and deny
it, turn against it, then that means the Holy Spirit has not
anointed you. Christ has not sent the Spirit
to anoint you, has not convinced you. I made this statement last
week, how if the Holy Spirit has, in the new birth, has given
me life and brought me to faith in Christ and repentance and
convinced me, convicted me, it's a conviction, see, that my only
hope of salvation is Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the
dead, His blood alone for the forgiveness of my sins, His righteousness
alone for my justification. If I've been convinced by the
Spirit, then I cannot ignore it, I cannot leave it, I cannot
ignore it, I cannot deny it, and I cannot leave it. That's
it. And that's what he's saying there
in verse 27. But the anointing which you have
received of him abideth in you and you need not that any man
teach you. Now that doesn't mean that we
don't need to learn more. And it doesn't mean that men
cannot teach us from the Bible. But what he's talking about is
the basics of the gospel. You don't have to keep being
convinced of that because you've already been convinced. And so
the only reason that we preach them to you now, if you believe
them, is for your comfort and encouragement and motivation. But you already know it. And
he says, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and
is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall
abide in him. You're going to abide in Christ.
This is one thing I know about people. If you've heard the gospel,
and you may hear it from a poor preacher like me, or any man,
if you've heard it by the power of God through Christ and by
the Holy Spirit, you'll abide in it. You will stay in it. And that is what this thing of
doing righteousness is all about. Look at verse 28. He says, and
now little children abide in him. I'm encouraging you, John
says, that when he shall appear, that's his second coming, we
may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
And then he says in verse 29, if you know that he is righteous.
Now Christ is coming again. He is the righteous one. He is
the just judge of all. And if you know that, if you
know that He is righteous, then you know or know you that everyone
that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Now, what is it to do
righteousness? A lot of people look at that
and they say, well, that means I've got to keep the law. Well,
my friend, if that's what you think it means, I want to tell
you, And you say, well, here's what I want to tell you, you
failed. Now you may say, well, how can you say that preacher?
You don't know me. I know what the Bible says about
you. The Bible says in Romans chapter three and verse 10, that
by nature and by practice, based upon our best efforts to obey
God, there's none righteous, no, not one. And that refers
to even true believers. There's only, how many times
have I said this? There's only two types of people on this earth.
There's sinners lost in their sins, and there's sinners saved
by grace. That's it, but still sinners.
And even a believer, our best efforts to obey God, to obey
His word, to be good people, still fall short of the perfection
of righteousness that God requires and that can only be found in
Christ. You say, well, then where's my
hope of being accepted? In the beloved, Ephesians 1 tells
us. My person, myself, and my works
aimed at glorifying God are only acceptable to God. through the
blood of Christ, washed in the blood. You see that? Even my prayers, even my best
prayers are not good enough to save me. But they're presented
to God, the book of Hebrews 4 and verse 14 through 16 tells us,
at the throne of grace through the great high priest who is
Jesus Christ, the Lord my righteous. So he says, and now little children,
this is verse 28, abide in him. Look to Christ continually. See
him for what he is. Rest in him for all righteousness
and all life and forgiveness. Look unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith. Abide in him. so that when he
shall appear in glory in his second coming to receive his
people and to judge the world, you'll be confident. How can
I be confident? You know what the standard of
judgment is? Well, Acts 17 31 tells us, that's
one of the many verses it tells us, but it says there in Acts
17 31 that God has appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness, perfect righteousness now, in righteousness,
by that man whom he hath ordained, by one person whom God has appointed,
in that he hath raised him from the dead, Christ. Christ. The reason I'm confident, if
I die and go to meet God, or if I'm on this earth when he
comes back again, I'm confident that I will be accepted with
Him, that I will be fine. Why am I so confident? Because
I plead His righteousness. I abide in Him. I don't plead
anything. I'm not like those fellas in
Matthew 7, 21 through 23. Lord, haven't I preached in Your
name? Lord, haven't I cast out demons? Lord, haven't I done
many wonderful works? That's not, see, I've preached
in his name. I've tried to be a good person,
but that's not my righteousness before God. My righteousness
is Christ. That's what Paul was talking
about in Philippians three, when he said that I may know him and
be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith or
the faithfulness of Christ, even the righteousness, which is of
God by faith. the righteousness of faith, looking
unto Christ. And so he says, if you know,
verse 29, if you know that he is righteous, and I know that's
so, Christ is righteous. I'm not righteous in myself,
but I am righteous in him. It's his righteousness imputed
to me. Second Corinthians 521 says,
for God made him, Christ, to be sin. made him sin. How was he made sin? Only by
being my surety. God not imputing my sins to me,
but he imputed them, charged them, accounted them to Christ.
He's my surety. He wasn't made to be a sinner.
He wasn't corrupted. He is Christ who knew no sin,
it says there in that verse. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Who's the we there? All those
who believe and abide in Him by the power of the Spirit through
Christ. I'm made the righteousness of God. What does that mean?
That means His righteousness is charged to my account. That's
what substitution is all about. And so if you know that he's
righteous, then you know that everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of him. Now, what is it to do righteousness?
Well, John's been explaining it all the way down through this
passage. And he's gonna continue to explain
it in chapter three. To do righteousness, it's not
my keeping the law perfectly. If my keeping of the law could
be labeled doing righteousness, then my law keeping would be
perfect, and it is not. My obedience would have to be
perfect. My love for God, my love for my neighbor, my love
for my brethren would have to be perfect without any smidgen
of sin, and that's not the case. But this doing righteousness
is what John is talking about. Abiding in Christ. Looking to
Christ. Believing in Christ. Pleading
Christ. Pleading His righteousness. It's
like John mentioned in John 3.21. He said, those who doeth truth. How do you do truth? You believe
in it. You walk by it. And that's what
we want. Somebody said, well, preacher,
you need to practice what you preach. Well, I do. I'm a sinner
saved by grace. I look to Christ for my whole
salvation. Look nowhere else. I abide in
Him. That's doing righteousness. That's
not me keeping the law perfectly. That's no perfection in me. I
heard a preacher say, well, doing righteousness is the actions
of the new nature. No, doing righteousness is believing
in Christ. abiding in Christ, resting in
Christ. Can you get confidence by thinking
about a righteousness within yourself that the scriptures
don't back you up on? No, my confidence is what God
has given me in Christ. I stand before God, washed in
the blood of Christ, clothed in his righteousness. And so
look at chapter three now. He says, behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Over in John chapter one, John
mentions that nobody, basically he says this, verses 12 and 13,
you can read that. I won't turn there. But he says
that those who are born of God, All right, those who have the
right to be called sons of God are those who are born of God. And you think about it, he says,
behold here, verse one, what manner of love the father hath
bestowed upon us, sinners, who don't deserve his love and who
have not earned his love. All we deserve and have earned
is his hatred. Now that's so, we're sinners. The Bible talks about that. The
Bible says God hates the workers of iniquity. That's Psalm 5. Now, well, if I'm a sinner, how
come God doesn't hate me? The workers of iniquity there
are all sinners to whom God imputes sin. If you stand before God
charged, having your sins charged by God to you, then all you have
to expect is His wrath. his hatred. But as I quoted last
week in John 833, the Bible says, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Why
can't God charge my sins to me? Because He charged my sins to
Christ. He was made sin. He's charged
me with His righteousness. But that's an amazing, amazing
fact and glorious truth of God's grace. Amazing grace, how sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. That's what John Newton
meant in that song. Behold what manner of love. God loving his enemies. Even
when we were enemies, Christ died for the ungodly, it says.
and that we, us, sinners, saved by grace, that we should be called
the children of God. That's an amazing thing. Chosen
by God before the foundation of the world, not because of
anything in us or done by us, but by His sovereign grace and
mercy. I'll have mercy upon whom I will.
I'll be compassionate to whom I will, he said. It's not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Think about it. chosen in Him,
adopted into His family by grace, justified in His sight by grace,
and then redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. That's grace. Redeemed
by His blood on the cross. Who died, was buried, and arose
again the third day because of my justification. He established
the only ground upon which God can save a wretch like me. And
that's His blood, His righteousness imputed. And then sent the Spirit
to raise me from the dead spiritually, one who had no interest in the
truth. Oh, I was religious before I
was born again, but I had no interest in the real truths of
the Bible, not the real truth, just my ideas. But He sent His
Spirit to give me life, and raise me from the dead, and give me
faith, the gift of faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Bring me to repentance. and bring
me to abide in Christ, doeth righteousness. Behold what manner
of love. And look at verse one of chapter
three again. 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, because it knew him not. You know, a
lot of people operate in their profession. And they'll say things
like, well, I don't want to hear a sermon, I want to see a sermon.
And what they mean is they want to preach a sermon in what they
think is godly lives. I've heard preachers say this,
they say, you're the only Bible that some people read. Well now,
my friend, if that's true, first of all, I cannot preach a sermon,
a gospel sermon with my life, my obedience. Should I be obedient? Yes. I don't want my bad behavior
or my lack of dedication to get in the way of my witness. But
my witness is not my life. My witness is the gospel. In
Matthew 5.16, when it says, let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which
is in heaven. You need to understand that the light there is not the
good works. The light there is the light
of Christ in his truth, in his gospel, that shows our works
to be good. You see what I'm saying? A person
who is an unbeliever, their works are dead works. but a person
who is a believer in Christ, his works are fruit unto God,
the work of God within him. But the only way you can know
that is by the gospel message, not by looking at me doing something
or not doing something. You see, this thing of I'd rather
see a sermon than hear a sermon and all of that, listen to what
the Bible says. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes, isn't that right? Listen
to the Word of God. Romans 10, 17. Faith cometh by
what? Looking at people? No. Hearing. And hearing by what? The Word
of God. Understand that. He told His
disciples, blessed are your ears for they hear, and your eyes
for they see. But He wasn't talking about looking
at people's lives. He's talking about looking at
the Word of God. So here He says, the world knoweth us not. because it knew him not. You
know that song that people sing sometimes, let others see Jesus
in you? My old pastor used to say it
this way, he said, they didn't see Jesus in Jesus. They didn't
know Christ. Christ told his disciples in
John 15 verse 18, marvel not if the world hates you, they
hated me before they hated you. And the disciples not bigger
than his master, not greater than his master, The world by
nature, and that includes me by nature, hated the Lord Jesus
Christ, the truth, the true Lord Jesus Christ, because he exposed
my deeds as being evil. John 3, 19 and 20. He told the
Pharisees, he told the people of the Pharisees, except your
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,
you'll know in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. You gotta
have a perfect righteousness. And you cannot gain one by your
best efforts. And that way, there's none righteous,
no not one. So if we're to find righteousness,
where do we go? We look to Christ. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe us.
And when we tell people the truth, that by nature, they don't believe
and hey, they won't recognize us to be children of God. They'll
say all kinds of evil against you. That's what Christ said
in the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are you when men revile
you and criticize you and say all manner of evil against you.
They don't know the Father. He said in John 16, he said,
they'll throw you out of their synagogues. Think about that. Now that's talking about the
Jewish synagogues, but that's talking about any religious service,
but think about that, to go tell an unbelieving Jew that he's
not a child of God, that he's not saved because he rejects
Jesus of Nazareth as being the Messiah. They're gonna see that
as unkind and hateful, just like they said that the Lord, they
looked at the Lord's life and they said he was a winebibber.
and a gluttonous man. And then they looked at John
the Baptist and they said, well, he's got a devil. You can't please
them. But look at verse two, 1 John
3, two. He says, beloved, now are we
the sons of God. Right now, we don't have to wait
for that. We don't have to work our way into that. If we do with
righteousness, that is the evidence now, not the condition. But doing
righteousness, abiding in Christ, pleading His righteousness, looking
to Him, resting in Him, that's an evidence that we are right
now children of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, what we're gonna be in glory, but we know that
when He shall appear, when Christ comes again, We shall be like
Him for we shall see Him as He is. That means we see Him now
in the glory of salvation by His grace. But Paul said in 1
Corinthians 13, we see through a glass darkly. We only see partially. We see enough. But when He appears
in glory, we'll see Him in all His effulgent glory. Oh, what
a sight that'll be. And John said, I can't tell you
what that is like now. It doesn't yet appear what we
shall be. A lot of people ask me, what
are we gonna be like in heaven? Well, I know the scripture says
that we'll have spiritual bodies, a perfect body, no sin, no tears,
all of that. But there's a lot I don't know
because it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we'll be
like him. We'll be as perfect as Christ
in ourselves then. because there'll be no sin, there'll
be no sorrow. And he says in verse three, and
every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even
as he is pure. What hope? The hope of salvation
by grace, the hope of righteousness in Christ by faith in him. That's doing righteousness. You
wanna do righteousness? Look to Jesus Christ, believe
in him and rest in him for all Righteousness for all forgiveness,
for all eternal life, and for all glory. That's doing righteousness.
And anything else, you depend on yourself or anything else,
that's not doing righteousness. That's sin. 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 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.