Now we began a study last week,
and I didn't make it very far, on six arguments for the holy
life of a believer. So we're going to review just
a little bit last week and then go on and look at the other four.
We looked at the first two last week. We're going to look at,
Lord willing, all of them this week. Paul, or John, actually begins
there in verse 29 of chapter 2. The first argument for the
holy life of a believer, he says in verse 29, if you know that
he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of him. Now, if we're born of God, we
have his nature, a nature of righteousness. That's God's nature.
He cannot sin. And all those who are born of
him have his nature. We have the nature of our Father.
And every child of God, because we have his nature, has a strong
desire to imitate our Father. Be holy as he is holy, because
we have a new nature. So that's the first argument
for the holy life of the believer. The second in chapter 3, verses
1 and 2. Behold, with awe and amazement,
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. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is." A second argument for the believer to live a holy
life is the love that the Father hath bestowed upon us, that amazing,
unspeakable love of God to his people in Christ. And that love
is so great that He has made sinners like you and me, His
sons and His daughters. And knowing that will motivate
the child of God. Nothing will motivate a child
of God more than God's love, more than His unspeakable love
for us. Knowing that God loves me, a
sinner like me, will motivate me to live as holy a life as
possible. A life that's pleasing to Him.
To Him who chose me in Christ. To Him who washed me in the blood
of the Lamb. To Him who sent His Spirit to
give me life all because He loved me. That'll motivate me to live
a life that's pleasing to Him who loved me when I'm so wretched
and undeserving. We covered all that last week
and I'll resist the temptation to dwell there. We'll go on.
Mom didn't think I could do it, but I did. Now the third argument
for the life of a believer, to be a holy life, is found in verse
3. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,
even as he is pure. Now everyone who has this hope,
that they will someday be like, just exactly like the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we will be perfectly conformed to His image. Someday. We have that hope. Someday to
be like Him. Everybody that has that hope has a very real desire.
to right now be just like Him. I don't want to wait until someday
to start being like Him. I want to start being like Him
now. I'm so thankful that God saved me, that He's put away
my sin, that He's given me a new nature. He's made a big difference. I'm so thankful. Words can't
express that kind of thanksgiving. But yet, despite how thankful
I am, we can never be satisfied with what we are. until we're
made perfectly like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when we'll
be satisfied. David said that in Psalm 17. In Psalm 17, verse 15, As for
me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness. That's when we'll be perfectly,
completely satisfied when we awake in his likeness. And we
have that hope. Every believer has that hope
that one day we will be satisfied when we awaken His likeness.
But no one who has that hope can really honestly say, well,
I do want to be like Christ someday, just not right now. You know,
right now I want to sow my wild oats and enjoy all the fun and
pleasures of sin, and then I'll just wait to be like Him someday. No. If you have that hope in
you that you will be like Him someday, then right now you want
to start being like Him. I don't want to wait until the
future to start having fellowship with my Lord and being like Him,
acting in His image. I want to start being like Him
now. And it can't be perfect. None of us can. Just because
you can't be perfect doesn't mean that you don't try. We will
do our best to imitate Him, even though we know it can't be perfect.
Look back a few pages at 1 Peter 1. In 1 Peter 1 verse 14, as obedient
children, God has made us his children, why don't us want to
be a rebellious child or we'll be obedient, an obedient child.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lust and your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is
written, be ye holy, for I am holy. And this hope that we have
to be like Christ someday, it's a good hope because it's through
grace. It's a hope that's in us, scripture
said. It's been implanted in us in
the new birth. And that hope is based entirely
on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's based on his blood to put
away our sin. It's a hope that's based on his
righteousness to make me accepted. It's a hope that's based on His
power, His grace, His love, His mercy. So it's a good hope since
it's based on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we've been given
that good hope through grace because God loved us because
of that manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. So because
it's a hope of grace that He's given to undeserving, we want
to start being like Him now. Now verse 4. Whosoever commit
a sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. And here's the fourth argument
for a holy life of a believer. A person who lives a life of
sin cannot be born of God. Now, we read this verse and it
says, Whosoever commit a sin. Well, it sounds like if you just
commit one sin, then you're not born of God. Well, that's not
what he's saying. That's not what scripture teaches.
You know that. What this means is a person who obstinately continues
in a pattern of sin, a life of sin. Someone who lives their
life enjoying sin, seeking it out. It also means someone who
excuses sin. Well, yeah, you know, I sin,
but can't help that. I mean, you got to sin nature,
so I just can't help it. And just, you know, they just excuse
it. A believer, we know we have a sin nature, but we do not excuse
sin in ourselves. We hate it. Someone who can just
make excuses for it and overlook it cannot be born of God. This
also means someone who justifies themselves. Well, it wasn't really
sin. It wasn't really that bad. No,
any transgression of the law is sin. So you can't excuse it.
You can't justify it. And a person who does not have
any regard for God's law. Someone who doesn't have any
love for the law of God or love for the commandments of Christ,
they cannot be a child of God because all God's children love
Him, love His law and have regard for His commandments. No child
of God can be happy when they are continuing to sin against
the will of the Father and against the will of our Savior, against
the law of Christ. Now the fifth argument for a
holy life of a believer is in verse 5. And you know that he
was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. And
here's the fifth argument, that Christ came to put away our sin. That's why I ought to live a
life of holiness, because Christ came to put away the sin of his
people. God's Son became a man, and he
manifested himself in the flesh to men, and in him was no sin. In him was no original sin. He
was born of a virgin. He didn't partake of Adam's sinful
seed. He didn't have any participation
in Adam's sinful nature. He was born of a virgin. So in
him was no sin, was no original sin, no sin nature was in him.
And also in him was no act of sin. He did no sin, neither was
any guile found in his mouth. In him was no sin. On that great appointed day,
the father imputed all the sin of his elect to his son, and
he bore that sin in his body on the tree, and he took those
sins away. That's why he was manifested,
to take away the sins of his people. Just like that scapegoat
took away all the sins of the children of Israel that were
laid on its head, took those sins away into the wilderness,
Christ took away the sins of his people. But unlike that scapegoat,
Our Lord, when He was made sin for us, He died. He suffered
the full penalty of the law for us. He suffered and bled and
died. And He destroyed our sins. He obliterated them, put them
away forever under His blood. He made an end of sin for His
people by putting it away. And the Spirit comes and purges
our conscience by applying the blood of Christ to our hearts. So Christ was manifest to pay
for the sins of His people. And he also was manifest to destroy
the power of Sina in his people. If the blood of Christ has been
applied to your heart, you've been given life. You have no
desire to walk after the flesh anymore. Your desire is to walk
after the spirit, because the blood's been applied. You've
been given life. And if a person still walks after
the flesh and not after the spirit, if the tenor of their life is
to walk after the flesh, Then the blood of Christ hasn't been
applied to their heart. It's as simple as that. Look
over Romans chapter 6. If the blood of Christ has been
applied to your heart, you have a desire to show forth Christ
in your life. In Romans 6 verse 5, Christ came to destroy the power
of sin in his people. If we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from
sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with him. Knowing that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over
him. for that in him he died, he died unto sin once, but in
that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your moral body, that ye should obey it and the lust thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive
from the dead. and your members as instruments
of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. What
then? Shall we sin because we are not
under the law, but under grace? God forbid! Know ye not that
to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are
to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness? But God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin. That's how you were born, as
the servants of sin. But ye have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then
made free from sin, from the power of sin, the indwelling
power of sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. When the Spirit
applies the blood of Christ to the hearts of His people, there
is a change that takes place. in the walk and talk and conduct
of a person. And if God gives me eyes to see
that Christ suffered for me, for me now, in amazement I say,
He did that for me, then I'm going to do my best Not to live
a life of sin, because I hate the sin. I detest my sin that
caused my Lord to suffer so much. That's why He is manifest, to
suffer and die on my stead, and while I'm thankful that He did,
I hate my sin that nailed my Savior to the tree. And I'm going
to do my best not to live a life of sin. That's strong motivation
for a believer. Now, verse 6. Whosoever abideth
in Him, sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him." Now this is the sixth argument for
the holy life of a believer. Anyone who abides in Christ sinneth
not. Now again, you know this absolutely
cannot mean that they won't commit just one act of sin, because
earlier in 1 John we read about those who confess their sins.
So we still sin. It's not just one act of sin.
He's talking about a life of sin, a practice of sin. And a
believer abides in Christ the same way the branch abides in
the vine. The branch gets its life, gets
its nature from the vine. And you cannot walk in a life
of sin and still abide in Christ. Because what communion does light
have with darkness? None. You can't do both at the
same time. And people who live a life of
sin, live a life of hatred and malice, they've never seen Christ
with eyes of faith. They've never known Him, and
He's never known them. But if we abide in Christ, we'll
live a life of holiness before men. It won't be perfect, but
it will be a life following our Savior. It'll be by His grace
and by His power. We get no credit for that. It's
because we abide in Him. That's why we live that life.
Now, verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. Now, Scriptures teach, by God's
grace we preach, that salvation is a person. It's knowing the
Lord Jesus Christ. Eternal life comes through faith
in Him, comes through His blood and His righteousness. We are
complete in Him. We're righteous because His righteousness
has been imputed to us. And our actions, either before
conversion or after, have no effect on our righteousness,
our righteous standing before God. Our righteousness comes
from the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ in Him
alone. Does it come from anything we've
ever done or didn't do? There is absolutely nothing that
we can do to make ourselves more righteous in God's sight. We
are complete in Him. You cannot, and a believer wouldn't
ever want to, try to add anything to the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The work is finished. And we
certainly can't add anything to it because everything we do
is unrighteous and sinful. If we try to add anything to
the righteousness of Christ, we detract from it. We take away
from it because we are unrighteous. We are completely holy in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's true, isn't it? Now, does that mean that our
actions and the life of a believer doesn't matter? Do our actions
not matter since they don't add to or subtract from our righteous
standing before God? No, sir. That's not what Scripture
teaches. You beware of men who tell you
that something you can do will contribute to your righteousness,
to your acceptance with God. And you also beware of men who,
on the opposite end of the spectrum, tell you that your actions don't
matter. that they tell you how you live
your life doesn't matter as long as you believe the Gospel or
as long as you hold to what they say is the right doctrine. You
beware of men like that. And that's what I'm saying. That's
what Scripture says. Do you read that? You beware of men like
that. Now, don't let them deceive you. A person who tells you those
things is trying to deceive you. Salvation, God's salvation, is
not just a state before God. God's salvation affects the walk
and the talk and the attitude and the conduct of His children.
We walk as His children. God's salvation makes people
kind, makes them forgiving, makes them loving, makes them generous
and faithful. Why? Because the nature of Christ
has been begotten in them. That's why. Because we abide
in Him. John Fleming, I wish I had a
nickel for every time he told me, you cannot separate faith
and conduct. Remember those little slips of
paper he'd give out? He'd handed this one out several
times. You cannot separate faith and
conduct. And one of those hung in our
refrigerator forever. Just until, I don't know what
happened to it. I guess it disintegrated. But it worked. I remembered it,
you know. You cannot separate faith and conduct. The life. And conduct of a believer is
important now. Don't be deceived. Because listen,
where there is true faith in Christ in the heart, the conduct
will be affected because our conduct is going to be controlled
by that faith, by that belief in Christ and following Him.
And a person who's born of the Spirit has a nature that will
do their best to imitate Christ, to imitate our Lord. And we know
as long as we're in this flesh, we cannot be righteous. We can't even do the first thing
that's righteous because this old man still mixes sin in with
everything we do. So we can't be righteous while
we're in this flesh. But faith in the heart won't
let us live a life of sin either. It won't let us give ourselves
over to the sin that we now hate. The new man will not let us live
a life that's contrary to the new nature. That new man desires
to be holy as our Lord is holy. And men, our friends and neighbors
and family, will see that in a changed walk. They'll see that
in your conduct. Our Lord said a tree is known
by its fruit. An apple tree produces apples. It's an apple. Holly and I were
driving to work this week and a man was saying on the radio
that an apple is a fruit. No matter how you cut it, no
matter how long you boil it, no matter what you do to it,
it's still an apple. It's still a fruit. That apple tree will
never produce oranges. You won't see tomatoes growing
on it or beans or carrots. It's an apple tree. And the apples
that hang on that tree's branches don't make the tree an apple
tree, does it? The apples grow on that tree
because the tree's an apple tree, because that's its nature. A
good tree will always produce good fruit. A bad tree will produce
bad fruit. And the fruit doesn't make the
tree a good fruit. Bad fruit doesn't make the tree
a bad tree. The fruit simply reveals what
kind of tree it is. It reveals what's in the tree,
what's at the root of the tree. Now, believers are trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord. And we bear fruits of righteousness.
And that fruit of righteousness that we do is done in faith,
isn't it? It's done as an imitation of
our Savior. But that fruit does not make
us righteous. No believer finds any hope and
confidence in their salvation in that fruit. The fruit doesn't
make us righteous. Christ alone makes us righteous. Yet your acts of faith, your
acts of love, joy, peace, and forgiveness, they reveal the
tree that's in you. They reveal the seed that's in
you. It reveals that you're a branch attached to the vine, growing
in the vine, Christ Jesus. James says, I'll show you my
faith by my works. That's the only thing men can
see. I can't see in your heart, but
I can see what you do. I can hear what you say. I show
you my faith by my works. And a believer would like to
have a life that we live, that people see something of our Savior
in me. Wouldn't you? I'd like that.
Wouldn't you? So the fruit just reveals what is in you, what
kind of tree you are. Now verse 8, John says, He that
committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested
that he might destroy the works of the devil." Now again, you
know, he that committed sin is of the devil does not mean, well,
we commit one sin and we're a child of the devil and we're lost forever.
He's talking still here about a person who lives a life of
sin, practicing sin. A person who lives a life of
dishonesty. You know, they lie and they cheat
and they steal and all their dealings with people just so
they can get ahead. They live a life of hatred. hate people,
everybody. They live a life of envy and
disobedience to the Word of God. That person is simply showing
whose child they are. A child of the devil. That's
the way he's been from the beginning, and they're acting disliking.
A child acts like the father. A person who lives a life like
that simply is showing there's been no work of grace in the
heart. The only heart to have is the bad heart that we're all
born with. That's the fruit that it reveals.
But John says, for this purpose the Son of God was manifested
that he might destroy the works of the devil. Christ came to
pay, that's what I said a minute ago, the penalty of sin for his
people. He came to pay the penalty that
the law and justice demands. He came to set us free from the
curse of the law by being made a curse for us. But he also came
to destroy the power of sin and the power of Satan in his people. Look back at Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2 verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. He came to
destroy the power of Satan in his people. We read that over
in Romans a few minutes ago, that sin doesn't have dominion
over us anymore. We're not the servants of sin
anymore, but the servants of righteousness. Now, we still
have that sin nature in us, don't we? You don't have to look too
far to see that. We still sin, but we won't give
ourselves over to that sin. We won't be servants of sin anymore.
We still sin, don't we? David had a man killed, for goodness
sakes. He still sinned. Every believer would do anything
if God would permit. But David didn't do anything
like that again, did he? David didn't live a life in that
malice and hatred like he did there. When you look at David's
life as a whole, what was it? A life of worship, a man after
God's own heart. Peter denied the Lord, but he
never did anything like that again because he's not going
to give himself over to that because Christ came to destroy
the power of Satan and his people. That sin is still there, but
it doesn't rule anymore. Now, verse 9, whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Now, we talked
about the new birth. What's born? It's a man. A new person is born in the hearts
of God's people. And that new man who is born
in you cannot sin. If words mean anything, that's
what that says. That new man is born and he cannot
sin. Why? Cause he's born from the
incorruptible seed, the sinless seed, which is the word of God.
Look over at first Peter chapter one is back a few pages. First
Peter one. First 23 being born again, not
a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever." That's the seed that that new man is
born from. And when that new man is born,
he rules in the heart of his people. And he won't let you
live a life of sin. That new nature just is not going
to do it. Now, you still have the sin nature,
unfortunately, too. But you won't give yourself over
to it. There's going to be a battle going on, and you won't give
yourself over to that sin nature because you have the seed. The
Word of God. You have that new man dwelling
in you. That old man is not going to let you live a life of holiness
that you now want to live. Because he's still that old sinful
man. He hasn't changed a bit. He still mixes sin in with everything
we do. That old man won't let us live
a holy life. But the new man won't let us
live a life of sin and disobedience against our Lord. And that war
is going to continue until that old man is dead, until he's put
in the ground. Then the new man will be free
from sin, and he'll go be with Christ. Forever free from sin
in a body and soul that's free from sin. Perfect. Conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the point of all
this is this. I don't want to wait until then.
to start having fellowship with my Lord and being like Him. We're
a whole lot happier if we would. If we start being like Him now.
I heard Brother Henry say this once. He said, a football player,
a running back, can't make a touchdown every time. He knows he's going
to hand the ball, he's going to run in that line, he's going
to get tackled. He can't make a touchdown every time. But I
wouldn't give you a plug nickel for the guy that doesn't try
every time. I can't be like my Lord perfectly,
but I'm going to try. I worry about the person that
you don't see those fruits in. People ought to see those fruits
in us. Well, I hope that's been instructive.