Now, let's look at that passage
that Mark just read. Actually, we'll go back one verse
in 1 John 2 and verse 29. 1 John 2. This is a series of messages
I'm preaching on the subject of doing righteousness. Now,
as I always tell people that each message stands on its own,
so you won't be lost if you didn't hear the first message as far
as the content of this goes. But there's several startling
statements that are made throughout this passage that if you do not
understand the context, not only just the immediate context of
what John is writing here by inspiration of the Spirit, but
the context of the whole of Scripture, you will get confused and maybe
even run into heresy. For example, look at verse 29
of 1 John 2. This is the base text that I'm
using. It says, if you know that he
is righteous, now the he there is the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you know that Christ is righteous, then you know that everyone that
doeth righteousness, doeth righteousness, that's what, doing righteousness,
what is that? All right, everyone that does
that, doeth righteousness, is born of him, that's the new birth,
born of God, you must be born again. So what is this doing
righteousness? Well, people go all over the
map on this thing about what that means, you know, you might
have an idea of what you think it means. There are people who
say, well, John's talking about a new nature within them that
cannot sin and cannot be contaminated. That when you're born again,
God gives you a new nature that is sinless. And therefore that
nature does righteousness, but you still have the old nature
that does nothing but sin. Well, first of all, that's, that's
not biblical. It's bizarre. And it's certainly
not what John's talking about here. He's not speaking of one
person with two names. He is talking about the new birth.
He says if you do righteousness, you know this, you're born of
God, born again by the Spirit. That's one of the evidences of
being born of God. You do righteousness. Other people
say that doing righteousness is the morality of a believer. The problem is is that the word
righteousness in the Bible, what does it mean? Well, it means,
in short, perfection. A righteous person is one who
in some way is perfect before God. Now, you know you're not.
I know I'm not. And God knows we're all not.
There's only two types of people in this world. There's sinners
lost in their sins, and sinners saved by grace, not by works. What is righteousness? It's perfect
satisfaction to God's law and justice. That's what it is. Some
people say, well, it's the attempts of believers to be perfect. Well,
that doesn't equal righteousness. Should we attempt, should we,
if we're believers, if we're children of God, saved by the
grace of God, should we be engaged in a life of morality, a life
of dedication, a life of prayer, a life of charity, love, all
of that. Morality, all of that. Should
we be engaged in it? Of course we should. But that
does not make us righteous in God's sight. The Bible tells
us that a believer, a sinner saved by grace, is at war with
sin. It's a warfare of the flesh and
the spirit. But the warfare, our actions, our plans, our intentions
and our purposes in that warfare do not make us righteous before
God. Well then how in the world can
it be said of any of us that we do righteousness? Well, here's
what I want you to see. In verse 29, and I mentioned
this last week, you have two things that are set forth here.
Number one, you have the ground of salvation, the ground of a
sinner's justification before God. Now, what is it to be saved? It's to be saved by grace, saved
from sin. What is it to be justified? It's
to be not guilty, it's to be declared righteous in God's sight.
Well, what is the ground of that? Where do we find that? I as a
sinner, where am I going to find righteousness? If I look within,
I'm not going to find it. If I do, it's self-righteousness,
isn't it? That's what the Bible calls it. That's what the Pharisees
were engaged in. I thank God that I'm not like
other men. I thank God I'm not doing this
and I'm doing that. Christ said that man was not
justified. He was guilty. He was not righteous. Where am I going to find it?
Well, here it is. If you know that Christ is righteous, there's
your key. Now, he's not just talking about
Christ in himself as he is righteous in his nature as God. What he's
talking about there is Christ as the surety, the substitute,
the representative, the sin-bearer of his people. Look over at 1
John 2 verse 1. This is how he sets the tone
of it all. You see, the fact that Christ is righteous means
this. If he's my surety, you know what
a surety does, don't you? A surety is one who takes responsibility
and accountability for the debt of another person and pays the
debt. You ever sang the hymn, Jesus
paid it all? Well, you're singing about a
surety there. He paid it all for who? For his
sheep, for God's elect. That's what the Bible teaches.
And it says here in verse one of chapter two, my little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. I'm not encouraging
you to sin. You know, people say, well, if
I believe salvation is all of grace, then I'll just go out
and sin all I want to. Well, John says, well, I'm writing
these things to you that you sin not. You're to fight sin. And he says, and if any man sin,
now that should be and because or since we sin. That's what
that means. In other words, it's not saying,
well, Christ is your hope. if you sin, but if you don't,
he's not. No, we're sinners, folks. If you can't admit that,
then you don't need a savior. You don't need grace. And he
says, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. Now that's what John means here.
When he says, if you know he's righteous, if you know he's your
advocate, you know what an advocate does? Like a lawyer that stands
in your place and plead your cause. He doesn't come before God and
say, look how Bill Parker is righteous. No, he says, I'm his
righteousness. Christ is my righteousness. And
it says in verse two, he's the propitiation for our sins, not
for ours only, that is not just for Jewish believers, but also
for the sins of the whole world, Gentile believers too. Now go
back to verse 29. If you know Christ is righteous,
if you know him as the Lord, your righteousness, And how did
He make me righteous? He shed His blood on that cross
as the satisfactory payment, the full payment to God's justice
for my sins charged to Him, imputed to Him. He's my surety. He's
my substitute. He's my sacrifice. He's my Lamb,
the Lamb of God. He died because the wages of
my sin is what? Death. Christ went under the
wrath of God, having my sins charged to Him, and He satisfied
the debt. He drank damnation dry. He put
away my sins. He washed me in the blood. What
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And in that death, He brought forth righteousness that God
imputes, charges, accounts to me. And so when He brings me
by the Holy Spirit in the new birth to hear and believe the
gospel, he lets me in on that great transaction that took place
2,000 years ago on Calvary. He tells me what happened as
Christ died as my surety and substitute. So if you know he's
righteous, If you know him as the Lord your righteousness,
you know this, that all who do righteousness are born again.
Now, what is doing righteousness? Now, the point I made last week,
and I'm gonna go start through 1 John 3 to show you the context
to support that, is this. The doing of righteousness, which
is evidence of the new birth, that's the second thing here.
The first thing is the ground of salvation, the ground of justification. You know he's righteous. You
know he's my righteousness. He's your righteousness. If you
believe, then you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born
of him. There's the fruit. Christ is the vine. We're the
fruit, his people. And he says, you know that everyone
that doeth righteousness is born. If you do righteousness, whatever
that is, that means you've been born again. You weren't born
again because you did righteousness. You didn't start doing righteousness
until you were born again. So what is the doing of righteousness?
Here's what it is. It's a sinner saved by grace,
believing in, trusting in, resting in, and clinging to Christ, who
is his righteousness. Now that's what John's talking
about. A believer, a sinner saved by grace, who is not righteous
in himself, and who does nothing that he can call righteousness.
But he's clinging to one who is, for Christ, Romans 10, four,
for Christ is the end of the law, the fulfillment, finishing,
perfection of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
I can tell you right now, I'm doing righteousness because I
have no other hope of salvation. I have no other hope of forgiveness.
I have no other hope of being right with God, but the imputed
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm following it, clinging
to him. That's what John's talking about.
Now, last week I dealt with this because in the context what John
is talking about here is professing Christians, okay? Those who claim
to be Christians but some who had apostatized. Now you know
what apostatized means? That means they fell away. They
quit They claim to believe in Christ, to know Christ, to love
Christ, and to follow Him, but then, for whatever reason, and
John tells us the reason there, because they were seduced by
false preachers, they fell away. They left it. They denied Christ,
the one whom they claimed to love and believe at one time,
now they denied Him. And what does John say about
them? Look at verse 18 of 1 John 2. He says, verse 19. He says, they went out from us. They left it. They fell away.
But they were never, they were not of us. For if they'd 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.
They were never saved to begin with. That's what he's telling
us. They'd never been born again by the spirit. But look here,
verse 20. But you have an unction from
the Holy One and you know all things. That unction is an anointing
of the power of God in the Holy Spirit in the new birth. It comes
from Christ. You who have not left the gospel,
you who have not left and denied Christ, that's proof that you
have been born again. You have an unction from Christ,
life from Christ. You know that's where spiritual
life comes from? Spiritual life does not come from the will of
man. I'm sorry. You don't have that kind of will.
See, we're all born dead in trespasses and sins. We fell in Adam, and
we're born dead in trespasses and sins. We don't have righteousness,
we can't make one by our obedience, and we don't want one God's way. We want it our own way. That's
by nature, that's what man is. Somebody says, well I've got
a free will, I'll tell you something your will's not free from, it's
not free from you. Who you are. The Bible doesn't
teach what man today calls autonomy or free willism. But if God the
Holy Spirit has given you this unction from Christ, you know
what he's done? He's given you a desire for things that you
didn't desire before. He's shown you your sin and your
depravity. And he's shown you the only hope
that you can have as a sinner is to cling to Christ for salvation
by the grace of God. Beg for mercy. That's what he
said. Where's mercy to be found? At
the mercy seat. Who is the mercy seat? That's
Christ. And that's what he's talking
about. So the key word here is abiding. Look at verse 24 of
chapter two. He says, let that therefore abide
in you. That word abiding, that means
continuing. Look at verse 27 of chapter two. But the anointing, that unction,
which you have received of him, of God, abideth in you. And you need not that any man
teach you. 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." Abiding in Christ. Verse 28,
now little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear,
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his
coming. How in the world could we not
be ashamed when he comes again? We stand in him. So if you know
that he's righteous, then you know that those who do with righteousness,
who abide in him as the Lord their righteousness, they're
born of God. That's what he's saying. Now
in chapter three, he gives us two basic, beautiful, gracious
truths to support that, what I was just telling you. The first
one is the assurance and hope of righteousness in Christ. You
know, there's an assurance there that cannot come any other way.
I mean, think about it. If you're looking to yourself,
your own power, your own goodness, your own determination to keep
you saved, really, what assurance can you have? Now you may be a little bit better
than me or a lot better than me, but we have our moments,
don't we? Admit it. But if I look to Christ
as my only righteousness before God, what assurance can I have? That's another thing, isn't it?
You see, he's able, Paul wrote, to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. What have I committed to him?
I'll tell you what I've committed to him, to Christ. My whole salvation
is committed to him. None of it's committed to me.
It's all committed to him. And when he comes again, I'll
tell you how I won't be ashamed. I stand in him, washed in his
blood, clothed in his righteousness. The second thing is the evidence
of sonship. Now this morning, I just want
to give you a few things about the first part here, the assurance
and hope of righteousness in Christ. And then next week, Lord
willing, I'll deal with the evidence of sonship. But let's look at
this. Look at verse one of chapter three. Here's the assurance and
hope of sonship. Here's what he said. Now this
is only for those who do righteousness as they have been born again
because they stand righteous before God in Christ. That's who this is talking about.
And he says, behold what manner of love, this unconditional love
of the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. That's an amazing thing. that
we who are by nature such a sinful people rebels actually the scripture
calls us children of the devil by nature that is as we're naturally
born even in our religious efforts you know the devil is a religious
devil the best thing he would like to have you doing is sitting
in a false church hearing a false gospel under the name of Christ
That's why it's impending upon people today to be diligent to
examine themselves, whether they be in the faith. Do you know
that Christ taught that as the days approach, we get nearer
to his second coming, that the greatest deception on earth would
be the deception of false Christianity? Did you know that? Somebody said,
well, the world's gonna get immoral, more immoral. The world's always
been immoral, folks. If you're like me and grew up
in the 50s and 60s, you just had blinders on watching Father's
Knows Best or whatever. You didn't see other parts of
the, listen, the world's, you know when Christ walked the earth,
The man in the White House, so to speak, there was no White
House back then, I know that, but the man in the White House,
so to speak, was one of the most wicked, immoral, evil rulers
that ever set foot on this earth. You can pick whichever one you
want, the Roman Caesars? Do you know the religious government
in Judea at that time was one of the most politically and religiously
corrupt? in the history of mankind? The
Sadducees, they were the political wing. They had control of the
temple and whoever was the high priest, it was somebody's brother,
uncle, whatever. The Pharisees, they were self-righteous
and promoted a false gospel. Well, as we approach the second
coming, Christ said, and you can read about it in Matthew
24, Mark 13, false Christianity will be the greatest deception. Do you think about this? And that's what we are by nature.
But God, because of his unconditional love for his people, hath bestowed
upon us, and all by his grace, that we should be called, identified,
and distinguished as children of God. And listen to what he
says in verse one. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, Somebody said, I want the world to see that I'm a Christian.
The world doesn't know what a Christian is. Now what that says, the world
knoweth us not. Why? Because it knew him not.
The world didn't recognize Jesus of Nazareth to be the Son of
God incarnate. The Messiah that was prophesied
and promised in the Old Testament, they didn't recognize Listen,
the world crucified him and we're part of that world, that fallen
world now, in spirit and by nature. The world called him a malefactor.
You know what that is? That's a criminal. The religious
people called him a blasphemer. My old pastor used to say that
they want to sing at him, let others see Jesus in you. They
didn't even see Jesus in Jesus. The world knew him not. He told
his disciples, marvel not if the world hate you, it hated
me before it hated you. Does that mean that we're to
blend in with the world and just go with the world and act like
the world? No, no, not at all. But we need to know this, the
world doesn't know really what a Christian is. They don't know
the difference between doing righteousness and committing
sin. But look at verse two. He says, Beloved, now are we
the sons of God. That's not something we have
to reach for. That's not a goal that we have
to attain. We are by the grace of God in
Christ Jesus now children of God. If we're doing righteousness,
if we've been born again, if we believe in and cling to Christ. It does not yet appear what we
shall be when Christ comes again and we are glorified We don't
really know what it's gonna be like. We can speculate. We have
some information in the scripture via 1 Corinthians 15, for example. That's about the only place.
But there's still a lot of unanswered questions there. But here's what
we do know. Look, he says, but we know that
when he shall appear, we shall be like him. We'll be perfectly
conformed to Christ. In ourselves then, We'll be sinlessly
perfect at that time. We're not yet. Not in ourselves
now. For we shall see Him as He is.
We'll see Him in all of His glory. All of His perfection. Now look
here in verse 3, here's a key. This will help us to understand
doing righteousness. He says, and every man that hath
this hope, now underscore this hope, in Him, purifieth himself
even as he is pure." Everyone has this hope in themselves. Purifies themselves as Christ
is pure. Now think about that. In other words, how in the world
can I look at myself and say I'm as pure as Christ is pure? Well, it certainly has nothing
to do with anything that is done in me or anything I do. You say,
well, I, you know, I just, I love people. Well, you love some people,
I know that, if you'd be honest. But I'm gonna tell you something,
if I could honestly say that I love everybody, I cannot say
I love everybody like Christ loved his people. You say, well,
I'm doing my best to keep the law. I don't think you are, but
if you did, You still could not say you match the obedience of
Christ. How can I say I'm as pure? Well,
it's this hope. What hope is he talking about? Well, he's talking about the
hope of salvation, the hope of justification, the hope of glory
that can only be found in Christ and based on his righteousness
alone, that hope. Peter wrote, 2 Peter 1 10, wherefore
the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election
sure, for if you do these things, you shall never fall. Well, what
is your calling and election? Well, it has to do with this
hope. What do you hope in? This is the hope of the gospel.
This is the fact that we were chosen by God's grace when he
chose us and gave us to Christ before the foundation of the
world. It's the hope of being justified by His grace through
the blood and righteousness of Christ. It's the hope of redemption
by His blood. It's the hope of being called
by His Spirit. It's the hope of being preserved
by the grace of God in Christ. It's all founded upon one person
and one work, the Lord Jesus Christ, Hebrews 10, 14, for by
one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. My favorite hymn. My hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name,
on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground, no matter how
good it appears to man or to me, all other ground is sinking
sand. That it? What's your hope? The
hope of the gospel. Jesus Christ and His righteousness
imputed to me is the solid rock of my whole salvation. And if
your hope or my hope or assurance of salvation is found anywhere
else but in Him alone, then you're standing on sinking sand. You
say, my hope is in my faith. Do you have perfect faith all
the time? Never doubt. Do you ever complain
or murmur? Do you know complaining and murmuring
in the Bible is unbelief? You say, oh yeah, but I catch
myself. Well, that's okay. But you still can't call it righteousness,
folks. Do you never have any sinful
thoughts? Remember I told you about the
fella, he's a Pentecostal, he told me he doesn't sin anymore.
And I asked him, I said, well, what if we took a video of your
thoughts of one day? Would you want me to put them
up on the screen in your church service? See how you fare? He just turned away angry. No, my friend, it's all Christ.
And this is the thing, that's why the righteousness of Christ,
the death of Christ is the assurance of salvation for all his sheep,
for all for whom he died. You know your hope, my hope,
lies in what makes the difference between saved and lost, between
eternal life and eternal... What makes the difference between
saved and lost for you, for me? Is it your faith? Is it the fact
that you walked an aisle? Joined a church? Got baptized? Give your tithe? Is that your
hope? Is that what makes the difference to you? If it is,
you're standing on sinking sand. Is your hope truly in Christ
or is it somewhere else? But look at it, he says, he purifies
himself even as Christ is pure. That word pure means to be clean.
It means to be cleansed from sin. And how are we who are saved
made pure? Well, look at verse four. 1st
John 3. He says, whosoever committeth
sin, now committeth sin, he's referring back to those who left
Christ. They had a profession of faith,
they claimed to be Christian, but they apostatized. That's
what he's talking about here. Listen, he says, whosoever committeth
sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. And you know, verse 5, you know
that he, Christ, was manifested to do what? To take away our
sins and in Him is no sin. Now, we know that in Christ Himself
there was no sin. He was and is the perfect God-man. He is immutably perfect and He
can never sin, He never had a thought of sin, a motive or a goal of
sin. But that, and that's taught in
the Bible, and we believe that. But that's not what this is saying
here. When it says, in him is no sin,
it's saying that as those who doeth righteousness, who are
born of God, as we stand in Christ, as he is my representative, as
he is my surety who paid my debt, as he is my substitute who died
in my place, was buried and rose again the third day, as he is
my advocate, my intercessor, my mediator, there is no sin
that God charges to me for condemnation. I stand in Him before God, perfectly
righteous. The Bible says, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died, yea rather, is risen again and is seated at the right
hand of the Father, ever living to do what? Make intercession
for me, be my advocate. pleading the merits of His righteousness,
His blood continually, and He'll never quit. You see, that's one
thing about Christ. If God took His hand of grace
off of me for a minute, I'd quit. But Christ never quits. He's
able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.
That's what the Scripture says. And you know why we continue
in this? In this hope, it's because God
never lets us go. He will not turn loose of us.
That's what Christ said in John chapter 10. My sheep hear my
voice, I know them. I give them eternal life. No
one shall pluck them out of my hand. Well, let me just conclude
with this. In Philippians 3 and verse 8,
I'll just read it to you. Here's what the apostle Paul,
this was close to the end of Paul's ministry. And he said
in Philippians 3.8, he says, yea, doubtless I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done that I may win Christ, and listen to this,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. What is our hope? That's the hope and assurance
of righteousness in Christ. To do righteousness now is to
believe in, rest in, follow and cling to Him. As one old preacher
said, holding on to Christ for dear life, not letting go.