It's good to see y'all again.
If y'all will, turn with me to 1 John chapter 3. I want to begin here in verse 10. He says, in this, give me one
second. I've got to make sure I'm looking
at the right thing here. Hold on one second. Alright, 1 John 3 verse 10. In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. Now, throughout this epistle,
the apostle's been declaring the manifest difference. That
is, the open, clear, obvious difference between the children
of God and the children of the devil. Now, when something's
manifest, It's made clear, it's obvious, it's openly manifest. The scripture says Christ was
manifested to take away our sins. He came and it was open and clear
and obvious He was manifested. And John's declaring here the
manifest difference between the children of God and the children
of the devil. Now you notice there in verse
10, He says, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,
neither he that loveth not his brother. The child of the devil
does not righteousness, neither loves his brethren. And what
does he mean when he says, he doeth not righteousness, neither
love his brethren? Well, if you look down the page
at verse 23, here's what the child of God does by God's grace. This is God's commandment that
we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and
love one another, as He gave us commandment. You see in verse
10 how He says He does not righteousness, neither loves His brother? Verse
23 says we believe on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and
love one another. When John speaks of doing not
righteousness, he's speaking of not believing on Christ. He's
talking about not continuing in Christ, not abiding in the
doctrine of Christ, not persevering in Christ until the end. It's
called doing righteousness because it's the only way we do righteousness.
Believing on Christ, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. That's
how we're made the righteousness of God. And Christ called it,
you remember in John 3, Christ called it doing truth. He said,
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, comes to Christ, that
his deeds may be made manifest, that they're all worked by God,
by the Lord Jesus. So when you go through here,
through this scripture, doing righteousness is speaking of
believing on Christ. Doing not righteousness is not
believing on Christ. It's he may profess he believed
on Christ. but he apostatizes from Christ. He forsakes Christ, he forsakes
assembling under the gospel, and he does this never to return. He doesn't come back to the God,
he does it to the end. He forsakes it to the end. And
that's the manifest difference. If you think about this, a child
of the devil can do outwardly, manifestly, everything that a
child of God can do. Outwardly, he can. He can put
on a show. The one thing he can't do, he
can't believe on Christ from the heart. And so he can't continue
in Christ. He can't continue in the doctrine
of Christ. And usually he'll leave wherever
the gospel is preached and forsake it. And the same is true. A child of God can commit any
sin the child of the devil can commit. But there's one thing
a child of God, by God's grace, cannot do. We can't cease believing
on Christ. We cannot cease believing on
Christ. And later John says, it's by believing on Christ that
we love the brethren. It's by continuing together under
the gospel, helping one another to have the gospel of Christ,
that we love one another. So, the Apostle John here, he'd
been comforting believers all through this epistle, assuring
us that those that have been born of God cannot not believe
God. We cannot cease believing Christ
because God keeps his people and we're kept by the power of
God so that we continue believing on Christ. This is what he's
showing throughout this epistle. The child of God does righteousness. He believes on Christ and thereby
loves his brethren. The child of the devil does not
righteousness. If he professed it, he's gonna
leave it. Look back up at 1 John 2, 19. And I don't have time
to go through the epistle, but if you go through this epistle,
you'll see that's the context John's talking about. He says
here in chapter 2, verse 19, they went out from us. But they
were not of us, 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, they were not all of us. That's antichrist, that's
the child of the devil he's talking about. But look, you have an
unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I've not
written to you because you know not the truth, but because you
know it, that no lies of the truth. Who's a liar, but he that
denieth that Jesus is the Christ. He's antichrist, that denieth
the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the
Son hath the Father also. Watch this now. Let that therefore
abide in you which you've heard from the beginning. If that which
you heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you shall
continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise. He's promised to us, Steve, in
eternal life. He's saying you're not going to commit that sin
of going out and departing. You're going to continue abiding
in Christ, abiding in his doctrine, and believing on him. Later on
in the epistle, John speaks about the sin unto death. And in the
context, he's speaking about the sin of apostasy. The sin
of apostasy is renouncing the truth. It's blasphemy against
the Holy Ghost. It's forsaking Christ. forsaking
assembling under the preaching of the truth. Remember the Hebrew
writer said in Hebrews 10, he said, forsake not the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is. Because if
we sin willfully, after that we've received the knowledge
of the truth. And he's talking about if we
forsake assembling. Now we can do like Peter did.
We can leave the gospel if Peter intended not, he was intended
not to come back. But if we're Christ, he gonna
bring you back. He gonna plant you, and he gonna
keep you under the gospel. And that's what he's talking
about throughout this epistle. So let me go back now to my text,
and I'm gonna read this, and I'm gonna substitute a few words
here, and I think it's gonna help you see this very clearly. 1 John 3, 4. 1 John 3, 4. Now listen to this. Whosoever, we'll go back and
look at this a little bit, but let me just read it. apostatizes
from Christ, transgresses also the law, for apostasy is the
transgression of the law. And you know that Christ was
manifested to take away our sins, all sins, including the sin of
apostasy, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Now you look at that right there,
that literally is saying whosoever abides in Christ, whoever perseveres
in faith unto the end, he sins not. He doesn't commit this sin
of apostasy. He can't forsake Christ. Abiding
in him is the opposite of the sin he's speaking of. Read on. Whosoever apostatizes has not
seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness,
he that believes on Christ, abides in him to the end, is righteous,
even as Christ is righteous. He that apostatizes is of the
devil, for the devil is an apostate from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil, And whosoever is born of God doth not apostatize,
for Christ's seed remaineth in him, and he cannot apostatize
because he's born of God. In this, the children of God
are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever apostatizes
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Now let
me show you this a little more clearly. First of all, The person
who apostatizes, forsakes Christ, renounces the gospel, blasphemes
the Holy Ghost, sins in two ways. First of all, it's a denial of
Christ and it's a denial of God the Father. That's what he said
back in chapter two in verse 22. Who's a liar but he that
denies that Jesus is the Christ. And he that denies that Jesus
is the Christ denies the Father and the Son. That's the first
sin. Look at 2 John. And look at verse
9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. You see that? If we deny the
Son, we deny the Father. But he that abides in Christ,
abides in the doctrine of Christ, has Christ and the Father. Secondly,
apostasy is transgression of the whole law of God. Look at
1 John 3, 4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law. For sin, and especially the sin
of apostasy, is the transgression of the law. What caught me on
this was that John said, also. Whosoever committeth sin transgresses
also the law. Well, everybody that knows anything
at all about The truth of God knows sin is a transgression
of the law. Why did he say he transgresseth
also the law? Well, he just said, he that transgresses
against Christ transgresses against God. He blasphemes God, he blasphemes
Christ, and he says now, and he also transgresses the whole
law. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. We believe
on Christ. And God's brought us to faith
in Christ, and God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us,
and we're without sin. In Christ, we're without sin.
There's no sin that God will charge His people with because
Christ put away our sin completely. But you reject Christ, and you're
left before the law on your own. And we've transgressed the whole
law of God. The scriptures tell us this.
He that believeth, Christ said, he that believeth on him is not
condemned. And he that believeth not's condemned
already. Guilty of the whole law of God.
He's not believed on the name of the Son of God. Now, so first
of all, apostasy's sin in two ways. But now look at this. Secondly,
the good news is that those that are born of Christ, redeemed
by Christ, cannot commit sin, and they can't, especially can't
commit the sin of apostasy. Before God, we can't commit any
sin so as to be guilty and condemned. And John, in the context, particularly,
is talking about we can't go out from Christ. We can't forsake
Christ. We can't blaspheme the Holy Ghost. Look here, 1 John 3, 5. You know,
you have an unction from Christ the Holy One. You know all things.
You know that Christ was manifested to take away our sins, all our
sins. And in Him is no sin. Christ
came and He took the sins of His people. He was once offered
to bear the sin of many. He bore our sins. He bore our
curse. And to them that look for Him
shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. In
Christ there is no sin. He put it away. Therefore, whosoever
is born of God and brought to abide in Christ, brought to believe
on Christ before God, we cannot sin. Being kept by God, we can't
commit the sin of apostasy. We can't stop believing on Christ
because God's gonna keep us. Look at verse six. Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. If we could apostatize, John
says, it means we haven't seen him, neither known him. Christ
said, except a man be born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. We can't see Christ except we're
born of God. And he says here, and whosoever
abideth in Christ does so because he's born of God. We've seen
him and we've known him by faith. And we can't stop knowing him
by faith. We can't stop believing on him.
In Christ we have no sin and we cannot not abide in him. Whosoever abideth in Christ sinneth
not. Whosoever abideth in Christ quite
literally, doesn't forsake Christ. He can't forsake Him by the grace
of God. Now, in Christ, we have no sin
of any kind. God is, He's thoroughly, He's
the scapegoat that carried the sin of His people away, and God
says, I remember your sins no more. Now, we are only sinning
ourselves, and that's all we do is sin in our flesh. I'm talking
about before God, before the law of God, we cannot sin. We cannot sin. And in that new
man he's created, there is no sin. And for this reason, God
keeps his child, and we can't forsake Christ. We cannot depart
from Christ. He says, that same anointing
that teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie, even
as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. Now contrast that
to what he says next there, He says, whosoever sinneth hath
not seen him, neither known him. If a man can depart from the
gospel of Christ to the end, renounce Christ forever for good
and go out and prove himself to be reprobate, prove himself
to be antichrist, it's because he's not seen Christ, neither
known Christ. He'd not been born of Christ.
God doesn't lose any of his people. Christ said that no man will
pluck him out of my hand, no man will pluck him out of my
father's hand. Those that apostatize are children of the devil, doing
what their father the devil does. Look there in verse 8. He that
committeth sin is of the devil. He that apostatizes is of the
devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. Go to John
8. Do you think? If you don't think that word
should be apostasy, go to John 8, let me show you something.
What sin was it the devil committed from the beginning? Christ said
he was a sinner from the beginning. What did he do? Look at John
8, verse 44. He told these Pharisees, he said,
you of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father
you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
that means he didn't love the brethren, and he abode not in
the truth. You see that? He abode not in
the truth because there's no truth in him. When he speaks
a lie, he speaks of his own for he's a liar and he's the father
of it. You see that Christ said in verse
47, he that's of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear
them not because you're not of God. The devil's sin was he was
a murderer. He loved not the brethren. And
he did not righteousness. He was not a doer of righteousness.
He abode not in the truth. He abode not in the truth. And
Christ said, those that are of their father, the devil, will
commit the same sins as their father, the devil. They will
not do righteousness. They will not abide in Christ.
They will apostatize from Christ, forsake Christ, forsake the gospel,
forsake the brethren, because they don't love Christ and they
don't love the brethren. And he gives the illustration down
there in verse 12, 1 John 3, 12. He uses Cain as the illustration. And he says there, we love not
as Cain. He was of that wicked one and
he slew his brother. And why did he slay his brother?
Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous.
He slew his brother because Cain did not abide in Christ. He didn't
believe on Christ. He proved it because he came
with the works of his own hands. He didn't come with blood. And
because he didn't abide in Christ and believe on Christ, he killed
his brother. You see that? He did not do righteousness,
and he neither loved his brother. That's what John's talking about.
Now, thirdly, let me show you this. The child of God is manifest
in that he cannot cease believing on Christ because of this incorruptible
seed of the gospel. Look at 1 John 3.9. Whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin. He doesn't commit any sin,
but he doesn't apostatize. For his seed, Christ's seed,
remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Christ has destroyed the works
of the devil. He came and for his people he
destroyed the works of the devil on the cross, And then he enters
in and binds the strong man and spoils his house, and he destroys
the works of the devil in his people, in that he creates a
new man within us. Being born of God, he says, verse
9, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Now, there's
no doubt about it, brethren. You and I that's born of God,
God does create a new walk in his child. He does make you love
the things that God says is right, and he does make you hate sin
and love righteousness. We delight in the law of God
in the inward man. We would not sin at all if we
could. If we could be done with this
body of death, we would be. But he says there, whoever's
born of God does not commit sin. He doesn't say, He that's born
of God doesn't practice sin. He doesn't say he that's born
of God, the general tenor of his life is that he doesn't walk
in sin. He said he that's born of God
does not commit sin. He does not commit sin. We don't have any sin to commit
or have any sin on our record that we have committed any sin
before God. We're talking about how God sees
it. We're talking about how it is in God's record book. God
said, I've blotted out the sin of my people. When he opens the
book, there's the books he'll open where he'll judge men according
to their works. And he'll open the books and
all the sins of those without Christ will be in the books.
But then he talks about he'll judge his people out of the book.
And he opens the book. And the description of it in
the scriptures, it's just a blank page. because all the sins of
his people have been blotted out. They are no more. And because
Christ abides in us, we can't commit the sin of apostasy. We
cannot do it. Why? Because his seed remaineth
in him. This is the incorruptible seed.
Go back to your left a couple of pages there and look at 1
Peter 1, 21. His seed remaineth in him. We're
born that first time of Adam's seed. It was corrupted and so
it produced a corrupt sinful flesh. But we're born again of
incorruptible seed. Verse 21, who by Christ do believe
in God. that raised him up from the dead
and gave him the glory that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through
the Spirit, that means you're born of the Holy Spirit, unto
unfeigned love of the brethren, wherever you see obeying the
truth, you're gonna find love of the brethren. Wherever you
find faith in Christ, you're gonna find love for brethren.
Because they're like two sides of the same coin, you can't separate
them. Look at this. See that you love
one another with a pure heart fervently, and here's how all
this came about, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. Because that word lives and abides
forever, his people live and abide forever. When you're born
of his incorruptible seed, there's a new man in you that lives and
abides forever. One of these days, Your dear pastor's wife, the
scripture says she didn't die. That's what scripture says. You
know, we say, well, they passed away. The scripture doesn't even
say they passed away. The scripture says these things
pass away from them. This body of death passed away
from her. And this sinful world passes
away from those that die in faith. And this body of death passes
away, and we awake. in his presence, in his likeness,
never to die. Christ said, he that believeth
on me, though he die, he won't die, he'll live forever. And
this, verse 25 says, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. Now Christ said, the devil's
a liar, and he abode not in the truth, because there's no truth
in him, he's a murderer. John said of the apostate, the
child of the devil, Back in 1 John 2 and verse 4, look there, he
said, he that saith I know him keepeth not his commandments.
We saw his commandment is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and love one another. That person that professes to
know God, but he doesn't believe on Christ and he doesn't love
the brethren, he said he's a liar and the truth is not in him.
He hadn't been born of the incorruptible seed. The word of God's not in
him. Christ said, you're of your father
the devil, and the word's not in you. My word's not in you.
Therefore, when I speak, Christ said, you can't hear what I'm
saying. My word's not in you. But you who've been born of God,
his word is in you. That's how come you can hear.
And look at the last thing he says there, 1 John 3, 8. He said, for this purpose the
Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of
the devil, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him. And look at this word, and he
cannot sin because he's born of God. This has to be talking about
before God and in that new man. That's all he's talking about
here because you and I know We can't do anything but sin in
our flesh. But before God, in Christ, with
Christ in you, in the new man, being one in Christ and one with
Christ, we cannot sin because his incorruptible seed is in
us. That means we cannot sin any
kind of sin. We cannot especially forsake
Christ. Can't be done. Can't be done. Christ put away our sin, in him's
no sin. Romans 6 says our body of sin
has been destroyed. When Christ was crucified, we
were crucified. Our body of sin was destroyed
and we're justified from our sin. We also are become dead
to the law by the body of Christ. Whenever he died under the law,
The law was executed upon him in full, and so the law had nothing
else to say to him when he died. And we died in him. So the law
has nothing else to say to us, brethren. Nothing else to say
to us. So not one charge can be laid
to us. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. And by this new birth, by this
incorruptible seed, Scripture says in Ephesians 4.24, there's
a new man, now listen to these words, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. That's opposed to that old man
which after Adam was created in sin and transgression. There's
a new man which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. Colossians 3.10 says he's a new
man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Christ who
created him. Christ created the new man and
created a new man in his image. And we're renewed in the knowledge
of him and in the image of him. Now, that means we cannot sin
because we're born of God. So, verse 10 says, in this the
children of God are manifest and the children of the devil.
He that doeth not righteousness, he that believes not on Christ
and remains in Christ until the end, he's not of God. Neither
he that loveth not his brother. A believer by our sovereign savior,
by his work done for us, by his work in us, by him giving us
the unction and keeping us, let me repeat it again. Before God,
we cannot sin. We're righteous as Christ is
righteous. By his grace, we can't commit
the sin of apostasy. We can't cease believing on the
name of the son of Jesus Christ, loving one another because we
dwell in Christ and Christ dwells in us and he keeps us. And that's the difference that
grace has made between the child of the devil and the child of
God. That's the difference. That's
the manifest difference. You hear people preach from 1
John 3 and they'll faithfully tell you there's just one, one
way we know that we're children of God. There's just one place
you're going to find assurance. Faith in Christ. And that's what
I'm telling you. That's what I'm saying. Faith
in Christ. Apart from our works and we can't stop believing him
by his grace. Now go to Hebrews 10. I want
to end with this exhortation he gives us right here. I can't
do better than this. This is it. Hebrews 10, verse
23. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promise.
Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is. but exhorting one another so
much the more as you see the day approaching. And John's assuring
us that if we're born of God, we won't do that. We won't forsake
assembling together with him. He gonna keep us, gonna keep
us. And he says, for if we sin willfully,
if we do leave Christ and reject Christ and renounce Christ and
go out for good, And God never brings us back. If we sin willfully,
after that we've received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Reject Christ. He's the
only sacrifice for sins. Reject him, there's no cure.
There's just a certain fearful looking for of judgment, fiery
indignation which shall devour their adversaries. Thank God
we're kept by the power of God. Aren't you thankful? All right,
amen. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Father, we thank you that you've not left us to ourselves. We're
thankful that you've called us and caused us to be born again. Thankful that you put away all
our sin in Christ and that you keep us by your power. Lord,
we don't have anything we didn't receive of you. And how thankful
we are that you won't leave us to ourselves and won't let us
go after our flesh. Lord, if there's any of your
people that have gone out and they're trying to depart, walking
after their flesh, but they're yours and born of you, as you
did Peter, Lord, we ask you to keep them. Bring them back under
the gospel. Bring them back to hear Christ
preached and to be a help, a fellow helper with the truth. We pray
for those that don't know you. Trust, Lord, in your time. According
to your will, you'll call them. We pray for those that are hurting
and sorrowing because of lost loved ones and those that don't
believe on you and those that have departed. We pray for Brother
Darwin and pray for this church, Lord, that you keep them and
keep them looking to Christ alone. We pray for your sick people
everywhere, Brother Don and Brother Bruce. Pray for Brother Joe and
that you keep them and keep them looking to Christ and that church
there. Thank you, Lord, for your mercy.
Thank you for forgiveness of sins. Thank you for keeping grace. We ask this in the name of our
Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.