Alright, we are going to be starting
at verse 4 of 1 John. I'm sorry, we're going to start
at verse 3 where we left off last time. We left off last time
with John speaking to the impact of the grace of God in the life
of the believer as he has come to learn all that he is in Christ. Verse 3 says, and every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure. Let me back
up again to give you the context if you haven't been with us.
1 John chapter 3 is dealing with the impact of the love of God
in the life of the people of God and he's instructing his
church to help them understand why it is that the world does
not understand the people of God and it's because they didn't
understand God and that introduces into the life of the people of
God a conflict that we find ourselves in constantly with a world that
does not understand us because it does not understand God even
as Jesus said if they didn't understand me they won't understand
you the servant does not rise higher than the master. That
anticipated conflict for the believer is something that he
or she or they must understand because without an understanding
of this anticipated conflict, you can grow weary, you can find
yourself disillusioned, disoriented with a course of life that you
thought should have been more blessing, smoother road. Now that you are a child of God,
you're starting to act right as you would perceive it. You
aren't as overtly disobedient as you used to be. We'll look
at all that. And yet your life often still is filled with a
lot of trouble. So there's a constant need for
us to reconcile why it is that even though I have come to know
Christ and I am really desiring to be an object of his mercy
and grace, that I still have a lot of trouble in my life.
This is what John is telling us to understand is that in this
world, you're going to have tribulation. And one of the things that the
believer has to do to be able to deal with that fact is to
to rely upon and enjoy the promises of God that are given him in
Christ. This is what's so crucial about
gaining a knowledge of God. Knowledge helps you overcome
the world. Being able to grasp the promises
of God and walk in the reality of those promises helps you to
overcome the world. The believer lives by faith and
he walks in faith. Faith is the substance of things
hope for the evidence of things not seen don't ever get tired
of hearing that concept Because until you hit the dust or until
the Lord comes faith is going to be the only sort of mechanism
our economy with which you Enjoy God and overcome the world now
faith is not an ethereal thing. It's not simply an idea it's
not simply a grasping kind of anxiously at things that don't
have reality. There is reality behind faith.
The point is, is that that reality that's behind faith is something
that the believer experiences in spite of or in lieu of what
may be empirical or observable evidences in the world. A believer
can experience the loss of financial resources on the one hand, which
can accrue for him the sorrow of other saints, the concern
about his welfare, her welfare, and yet they inside could actually
be thriving in their relationship with God. That can be a paradox,
if you will, where they know that they are struggling economically,
but the struggle economically has been used by God to draw
them closer to Christ. And if they were to be honest,
they would say, I am in a better place now spiritually than I
was when I had resources. Cause when I had resources, I
was more neglectful and a bit more careless. And I didn't walk
with God as closely as I am doing now. And when you are actually
born of God, nothing, is more pertinent than a close walk with
God as we're about to see. When you are born of God there
is nothing more rewarding than communion with Christ. And so
what John says to the church in the first century was in verse
two, beloved now, not tomorrow, now are we the sons of God. And
though it does not yet appear what we shall be, we have no
external evidences, no empirical evidences. We can't say to the
world, see, I am a son of God. Though it does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know, we know this is what we know.
Here's a faith concept now, even though it doesn't appear that
I'm a child of God, I can't give you one tangible evidence that
I am a child of God. This is what I know. See what
I'm getting at? So I can't show you anything,
but this is what I know. It is a personal, subjective,
based upon the Word of God conviction. This is what I know. Here it
is. That when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. That's a promise that the believer
embraces in spite of the fact that he can't give anyone evidence
that he's a child of God. He does know that when Christ
comes he will see him. Inherent in that knowledge is
the child of God's hope that one day he will see Christ. Please
think that through. Now notice what he says over
in verse 3. Verse 3 is very important. And every man that has this what? Every man that has this hope,
last week I told you that the way this is constructed in the
original language is that the individual who has been born
again, who does know that they are a child of God, in spite
of all of the apparent contradictions and the different struggles that
they have, is living out of a life of faith and hope and they draw
from the well of the promises of God They also, because of
this work of grace in their life, have had laid upon them, laid
upon them, it's a passive verb form, hope. Hope has been laid
upon you and me as believers. The true believer lives in hope. Is that right? The believer lives
in hope. Now, hope again are future things. You need to know that. Future
things. In fact, The gospel is full of
hope, isn't it? The message of redemption is
full of hope. Now, hope and faith are two sides
of the same coin. They are not synonymous. They're
not Siamese twins, but they are two sides of the same coin. I've
said it before, faith primarily, not exclusively, but primarily
the reality of things that God has done. We walk by faith based
upon the things that God has done and we walk in hope based
upon the promises that God will fulfill. And one intrinsic hope
that all believers have who are informed biblically is the hope
of the resurrection. That is a cardinal hope of all
believers. We are begotten again and by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ unto a living hope. This is first
Peter chapter one. The believer is hoping that they
will be a partaker of the ultimate resurrection. Philippians chapter
three, the apostle Paul says, for this reason, I desire to
be a partaker of the sufferings of Christ in order that I might
also become a partaker of his resurrection. So the believer
looks forward to this grand event called the resurrection of which
everybody will be a part of. But for the believer, the resurrection
will be, as it were, the capstone of the promises of God, because
in the resurrection we become everything that God has already
given us in our sonship status in Christ. We look forward to
the resurrection. In fact, You and I are removed
from it by far because we don't suffer persecution like our third
world country brothers and sisters. And you and I have not been through
the historic Holocaust of Christianity in different epics, in different
periods of time, like the martyrs did. in the early church and
the martyrs did throughout history. And even as I say now, Christians
around the world, I want you to grasp this concept before
we go into the categories that John is gonna introduce us to.
When we talk about hope in the resurrection, you know the only
people that ultimately find their hope in a resurrection? Is a people who have abandoned
all hope in earthly and temporal deliverances. The people who
have come to a point of realizing my real hope is not in whether
or not my circumstances will change. They may or may not change. If they do change, that's not
the hope that Christ earned for you in the gospel. That's a reality
or not that God brings about in the life of the saved and
the unsaved. Unsaved people have reverses
and they have blessings. God reigns on the just and the
unjust. He shows mercy to both categories of people and they
will see seasons of blessings and seasons of drought too. Don't
think you're better than them and don't think because they
experience the seasons of blessings and droughts that somehow they
are in favor with God. No, God does that to his creatures
in order to bear witness to his goodness, which you and I talked
about last Sunday. Only God is good. True goodness
derives from God and all other goodness is relative to that.
And so what God does in his nature is do good to all creatures,
giving us rain, seasons and blessings. And we are accountable for those
things when we meet God on the last day. So, you know, when
David said in Psalm 71, I became envious of the wicked. Well,
don't be envious of the wicked. The wicked have to answer for
the blessings that God gives them, just like you do. Pity
the wicked. because for them on the day of
resurrection, they will face a judge without mercy. For the
believer, however, when you are in a situation where let's say
third world countries right now, we still are having some major
Holocaust for believers in parts of Asia and definitely in Africa.
primarily Somali and other places where they are just being slaughtered
and slain and the media's not talking about it. When you realize
that you could die tomorrow because of just the chaos of darkness
wreaking havoc in the region in which you happen to live,
your only hope is the resurrection. And that doctrine of the resurrection
then raises you above the fear of physical death. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? This is a critical doctrine of
truth. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. He that believes
and lives shall never see death. What Jesus is teaching about
the doctrine of the resurrection is this. When you come to know
God, he gives you the kind of grace to face every difficulty,
even death. Now we are talking biblical Christianity
now. Now you and I are talking biblical
Christianity, because what kind of Christianity is it? withers
and disintegrates under a little persecution in this temporal
life because somebody don't like you, or you lost your job, or
you were demoted, or you were ridiculed, or you were scorned,
or maligned. What kind of Christianity is
that when we laud and glory in our the incarnation, the atonement,
the propitiation, the resurrection, the exaltation of the second
person of the Godhead, and then people fall apart over somebody
looking at you cross-eyed. What kind of gospel is that?
Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? So, and what I'm doing
before I go to our next point, because in our next point is
where we're going to go to work, is I'm reminding you that the nature
and the genesis of the gospel that was given to us was a gospel
that spoke to people who were poor, who were cast out, they
were folks who were not accepted in society, and death was easy
for them, and the Savior came to them with a message of redemption
saying to them, believe in the God that can raise you from the
dead. And once you were able to embrace that hope, having
that hope laid upon you because the Holy Ghost has affirmed your
sonship. Remember, we're moving from the
affirmation of being the sons and daughters of God to now the
conflict of living in a world that does not believe in God
and does not love God. That's a problem. So we've got
to traverse this world like Jesus did. And very often we have to
head to Calvary like Jesus did. And the goal is to head to Calvary
like Jesus did with the same dignity of our master since we
have received his spirit. This is the way you honor him
and witness to his glory. So stay with me now. Notice what
he says, and every man that has this hope in him does what? And
every man that has this hope in him does what? Purify himself. So we're getting ready to go
to work. Purify himself. This is why I have up here sanctification. There are two categories John's
going to deal with. He's going to deal with sanctification and
then he's going to deal with regeneration. Theologically we
would start with regeneration first and then sanctification
later. But what John is going to do is give us the evidence
of what it means to be a son of God because that's what 1
John 3 is about. The distinction between the sons
of God and the children of the devil. That's what 1 John 3 verses
1 through 10 is about. Herein is manifested those who
are the sons and daughters of God and those who are of the
devil. And so what he's going to deal with now is the doctrine
of sanctification because the doctrine of sanctification is
where you and I live when we're born again. You and I are born
again. We live in the realm of the doctrine
of sanctification. So now, mark what he says. I'm
going to work this through your outline under process. Do you see that in your outline?
Process. Process. When we talk about sanctification,
we are talking about process. Process. I'll explain a few things
about that as we work our way through it, but I want you to
think about process as being something that has a beginning,
that goes through a functional, sequential, orderly process before
it terminates. It's not just some one-time act,
not some punctiliar act that took place in time and from that
point on things are the way they are. When you and I are talking
about process, you and I are talking about the engagement
of a series of things that require time and process. That part becomes difficult for
us, but that's where sanctification comes in. And I want you to note
what he does. He says, every man that hath
this hope, that is the return of Christ, seeing him as he is
and becoming like him, purifies himself. Do you guys see that?
So what you see in that particular statement by John, watch this
now, is the response of the believer to the hope of the resurrection. You see the response of the believer
to the hope of the resurrection. I want you to get this, please
get this. When you become born again and God seals to your heart
eternal promises and eternal blessings, that hope of ultimately
being with God, it sets you on a course of conduct that we call
sanctification and our text calls purification. Are you hearing
me? The man or the woman that actually
has hope lives in a context of sanctification, which John is
calling purification, of which we're getting ready to define
it here now, under process. A path of what? Purification
by what? Faith rooted in what? The hope
of the glory of God. Do you see it? This is the process
that we're getting ready to talk about. What happens when God
saves a sinner? He takes him out of the miry
clay of the swine trove, out of the filth of a corrupt and
vile and dark and black life and washes them clean in the
blood of the Lamb and in making them a new creature in Christ
they are now on a course by faith headed to glory accepting a process
of sanctification by which they are in a state of continual purification. That's what this is talking about.
The man or the woman that has this hope in him is now actively
pursuing a lifestyle that is consistent with the one who saved
them. Now watch how this works. Look
at verse 3 again. every man that has this hope
in him he does what now watch what we call a parallel clause
with an object every man that has this hope in him purifies
himself here it is even as what we call a parallel clause it's
called an equal exchange it's a cause-and-effect clause Why
is this person in pursuit of purification? Because the one
who actually saved him is pure. Do you see it in the text? Even
as he is pure. I'm going to tell you a secret
now just in case you don't get it. This is called the doctrine
of union. Union. Union. It's when God takes the sinner
and places them into Christ and makes them compatible to Christ
so that Christ becomes the object of their affections and their
life. And because now they have the DNA of Christ, they want
to be like Christ. This is called the doctrine of
union. This is the doctrine of union. We're getting ready to
unpack it, but I want you to know this is called the doctrine
of union. When the disciples were with Jesus, The net effect
and benefit of them being with Jesus was that they became like
Jesus. Now that's a radical concept,
but it's true. Remember what we learned in our gospel and sexuality class? Whatever
object you are looking at, you become like that object. And
so last week we talked about the three stages of looking.
The look that saves. I'm going to talk about it tomorrow,
or Sunday. the look that saves look unto me all ye ends of the
earth and be ye saved the look that sanctifies that's what we're
dealing with now we are with open face do behold in a mirror
the glory of the lord and by the spirit of god we are changed
into that same image even from glory to glory because we're
looking at him there's a dynamic that takes place when the soul
is connected to christ where the soul now is experiencing
the benefits of that look It's a sanctifying look. Acts chapter
5, the rulers of the church, Jesus has already ascended into
heaven. Peter now is in the forefront of ministry. He's preaching their
healing. The disciples, that is the apostles, are going to
jail for Christ's sake. And Peter stands up and boldly
preaches to all of them. And the rulers say, we perceive
that these men have been with Jesus. Why? Because kind begets kind. That's
the nature of God. Every seed buried earth bears
forth fruit of his own kind. We're getting ready to get into
the seed doctrine here. I'm just helping you to understand
that the idea of purification or the idea of sanctification
should never be an alien concept to you. What we are talking about
with the doctrine of sanctification is the experiential aspect of
the invasive work of God when he enters into the life of the
objects of his love. God doesn't leave you and me
in our funk when he comes to us. But actually, the way the language
goes in the text, and I love it because this is technical
terminology that has to be regarded and honored. Otherwise, we will
make the fallacious mistake and often pastors and theologians
do just to justify their doctrine or doctrinal emphasis. The text
here is speaking of intentional and volitional work of the redeemed
sinner who wants to be ready when Christ comes. This is the
intentional and volitional work of the redeemed sinner who wants
to be ready when Christ comes. See, John knows what he's talking
about and so I'll back you up before I unpack this up to chapter
2 verse 28 and 29. Are you there? and now little
children abide in him that's called union you guys got that
watch this that when he shall appear that's the end time that's
our hope right we may have what so John is getting ready to explain
in chapter 3 what it means to abide in him. I'm using terms
called sanctification. I'm using terms called union.
I'm using terms called purification because it's there. But it all
really means to abide in Christ. Okay, you got that? That's what
union is. And John backs up here in chapter 2 and says, now watch
this now. And now little children abide in him that when he shall
appear we may have confidence and not be what? Ashamed before
him at his coming. Now if you know Here's another
one of what we call these parallel clauses. Now, if you know that
he is what? You know that everyone that what?
Is born of him. There's a parallel clause. Kind
begets kind. John is straightening out error
in this church where folks are calling themselves Christian,
but are not bearing the fruits thereof. Are you following me?
This is another even-ass clause. So going back to verse 3 everyone
that hath this hope in him purifyeth himself purifyeth himself purifyeth
himself Even as he is pure in your outline process a path of
purification by faith rooted in the hope of the glory of God
Colossians 1 27 says this Christ in you the hope of glory you
guys got that the hope of glory Christ in you the hope of glory
and that's the first part of the three slashes you have in
their hope of glory and in 1st John chapter 2 verse 28 and 29
are given to us which we just read and the other slash there
you can put the word Union Union Union Union and now I'm quoting
John chapter 15 verse 5 if you abide in me and I abide
in you you will bring forth much fruit for without me you can
do nothing are you with me So the analogy in John chapter 15
is the analogy of the vine tree and the believer being in union
with Christ and being told that the only way you and I can bear
fruit, which the purpose for which we bear fruit, is because
it glorifies God. That's verse 8 of chapter 15.
Herein is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit.
That matters to a child of God. But what Jesus says in John 15
is this, you can't do that on your own. There's no way you're
going to do that on your own. Without me, you can do nothing.
So now watch this as I get ready to unpack this a little bit more.
If you ever see anything emanating or proceeding from the life of
the believer in terms of evangelical fruit or the fruit of the spirit
or works of grace by which God is glorified, be sure of this,
that there's a power behind that fruit and that evidence. That
is a consequence of God's work of grace in their life. It doesn't
proceed from them. Just accept that as a fundamental
assumption. Don't you ever struggle with,
how can they do that and how come I can't? They can't do it
and you can't either. It can only be done by union
with Christ. He wants you to understand that.
But the objective is to do it. Now, in this context, what John
says the believer does is purify himself. Do you see that? Purify. Purify. So in your outline, under
the process, we have the word purification. Do you guys see
that? So I'm going to talk about it. I'm not going to unpack it
fully, but I'm going to say this about it. Purification, hagnizo
is the Greek term, is in what is called the present active
indicative. Now, present tense is when you and I are doing something
continuously. The active form is when you and
I are the ones who are doing it. If a person were to look at you
and you were walking and you continued to walk and you walked
until you were out of their sight, what they would say is, I saw
such and such walking down the street. It would be the present
indicative. Present active indicative. I
saw you doing something and you continue to do what you were
doing Now there's a difference between what we call the active
and the passive Now what the text didn't say was and every
man that hath this hope in him is purified Even as he is pure
That would have been in what we call the passive form you
know what a passive form is is when the subject is taken and
placed in the object like we do in baptism where a person
is passively the recipient of the act of baptism. Passively
the recipient of the act of baptism. It's one thing for you to be
purified, it's another thing for you to purify yourself. Now
what John is saying here is Once a person becomes illuminated,
quickened by the Spirit of God and brought into union with Christ
and made known his inheritance in Christ and sees that the end
product is the resurrection, his natural course of life, because
he's in union with Christ, is gonna be a life of purification.
Can we work with that a little bit? So that's precisely what
John wants us to do. So in your outline, here's what
I say. It's the ethical response to the reception of the gospel
is just natural for true believers to do. When you go through the New Testament,
you will read about acts of purification, cleansing, washing, that are
attributed to the believer in two forms verbally. Them doing
it, and God doing it for them, Which means if God's doing it
for them, they're operating in what is called an indicative.
It's a state of being like when you take the little baby, brand
new baby, you know, you take your brand new baby and you give
them a bath. They're being bathed, bathed. They're very passive
in that. But then when they get older,
you know what you tell them? Go wash yourself. And then they
climb in the shower and they start bathing themselves. See
the difference? Active-passive. Now watch this.
When you bathed them, they were passively experiencing the blessing
of the power of somebody else doing something for them of which
they could not do for themselves. But when they began to grow up,
you gave them an imperative. That's called a commandment.
You know that stuff we don't like to hear? Commands. But all
parents give them to all children. And we're children of God, and
so he gives us what? Commandments. So there's a time
after we mature and develop in the passive blessings of God
working in our life, we'll see this, where he gives us the imperative.
You know what he says? Go wash yourself. And that's
what the believer does. It's an imperative. It's part
of the process of growth. Now I'm going to share with you
some verses that's going to explicitly state this to you so you can
know it. and I'm gonna reconcile these tensions, the tension between
the command for us as believers to purify ourselves and the indicative
that is the state and condition of the believer who is being
purified by the grace of God. Reconciling these two is critical
to be able to do. So in your Bible, let's go first
to Acts chapter 15, verse nine. Stay with me now. We are talking
sanctification. We're talking about what happens
after a person is born again. And in Acts chapter 15 verse
9, there's an observation made concerning the Gentiles who have
come into a knowledge of the gospel on the part of the Jews.
They are going to say something or remark about what God has
done for them. Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter
15. I'm going to start at verse.
Verse six, and the apostles and elders came together to consider
of the matter. And when there had been much
disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and brethren,
you know how that a good while ago, God made choice among us
that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. And God, which knows the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them what? Now, when we say that a
person has received the Holy Ghost, What we are saying is
a person has been sanctified. Okay? When we say a person has
received the Holy Ghost, we are saying that that person has subjectively
experienced sanctification. Holy and sanctification are synonymous
terms. They are not distinguishable
terms. To be holy is to be sanctified. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit,
is the spirit of sanctification. So that when a person receives
the Spirit, they are at that moment sanctified. You guys got
that? That's a passive dynamic by which
God himself qualifies you for communion with him because he
is the one who sanctifies you. That's the Old Testament language
in the book of Leviticus where God had brought the children
of Israel out of the wilderness, out of Egypt, into the wilderness
and he brought them into covenant. He sprinkled them with blood
and with water and what he told them was this, I am the Lord
your God. I brought you out of the house
of bondage. I brought you out of the land
of Egypt. I brought you to myself and I,
the Lord your God, do sanctify you. Got that? You know what
they were hearing? They were hearing the work of
God and bringing them into a state of salvation of which work God
did alone. God says, I brought you out of
Egypt. I destroyed Pharaoh. I opened the Red Sea, I brought
you into the wilderness, I brought you to myself, I sprinkled you
with blood, I gave you my covenant, you became my people, I washed
you, you are mine, you are mine and you are sanctified because
I, the Lord your God, do sanctify you. Got it? I, the Lord your
God, do sanctify you. And this is what is being transferred
in the New Testament to the Gentiles by way of the observation of
the Jewish brothers. Watch what it says over in verse
nine now. having given them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto
us, God put no difference between us, that is the Jews, and them,
that is the Gentiles. Now watch this, doing what? Purifying
their hearts by what? The Gentiles were filthy sinners
in the unclean sense outside of the camp, outside of the covenant,
outside of the promises of God until the gospel came in power
and brought them into the camp, having washed them in the blood,
washed them in the water, made them the people of God, purifying
their hearts by what? Faith. Now, what we call the
instrumental means by that is this. When a sinner who is lost
hears the gospel, and the gospel comes in power and breaks their
heart and brings them into a knowledge of salvation, and they come to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, That act of faith is a purification
process by which now they are brought into union with God.
Purifying their hearts by what? Faith comes by what? And hearing
by what? Ah, now you understand what Jesus
meant when he told the disciples, you are clean through the word
which I have spoken unto you. Got it? So purification comes
instrumentally through the preaching of the word. It manifests itself
as an act of purification when the heart believes the word preached.
When you become a believer you are now sanctified because the
heart is purified by the process of faith that comes through the
preaching of the word. What you are seeing in Acts chapter
15 is the passive side of this purification process. This is
the passive side. This is what happened when you
were born again. This is what happened when I was born again. This is
why the Bible uses the language of washing so much. Wash by the
water of the word. Washing, washing away our sins. washing away the filth of our
guilty conscience, purging us from dead waste. Are you guys
hearing me? These are all cleansing terms, sanctifying terms. You
remember when your heart was so vile and corrupt and so stinky,
filthy, rotten to the core, and you couldn't stand yourself,
and you were ready for a God who could only cleanse you? You
remember when the gospel came in power and broke your heart,
disintegrated your whole being and brought you so low that all
you could do was cry out to God? And then do you remember when
you felt and experienced in your soul the great, great soothing
power, cleansing power of the grace of God that had you cry
rivers of tears? Until when you stopped crying,
your heart was lifted up, your soul was light, there was a sense
of cleansing that had taken place and you had a new start in life.
You remember that? That's what happens when God
quickens a person. That's what happens when a person
is quickened by the Spirit. He washed us in his own blood. It's the power of the blood,
the power of the preaching of the cross that purifies the soul
and brings a person into a whole new dimension of thinking, whole
new dimension of thinking. And it's such a wonderful place
to be when you are freshly born again and you are freshly quickened
and you are freshly washed. The thing you are immediately
aware of is that you are not what you were a moment ago. that you really don't want to
go back there you really don't want to be in that filth and
pit that you were in I'm here to tell you that's what happens
when you're born again that's what happens and this is what
happened to the Gentiles now I want you to see another verse
relation relating to this go with me in your Bible now to
2nd Corinthians chapter 7 2nd Corinthians 7 we're looking at
verses that constitute what we call purification and purification,
and we're looking at both the active and the passive passages. We've just looked at a passage
that teaches the passive work of grace, the active work of
grace on God's part, the passive dynamic experienced on the part
of the recipient where that individual is confronted by the power of
the gospel and saved and converted and washed from their sins and
brought into a state of purification. We'll see it again in the mouth
of Peter in 1 Peter 1.22 in a moment. But I want you to hear in 2 Corinthians
7, what God says to the people who
are already in a corporate state of sanctification. Are you there?
Now, you know the church at Corinth had his problems, right? Very
much like the church today. Very much like the church today.
After closing out in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, saying to the church
at Corinth, you cannot commit fornication without forcing God
to commit fornication. when you commit fornication the
God who is in you is committing fornication too and that is a
horrible crime verse 1 of chapter 7 now concerning
the things where have you wrote unto me I know this 2nd Corinthians
7 I'm sorry 2nd Corinthians 7 1st Corinthians 7 I don't want to
get there that's a whole nother topic 2nd Corinthians 7 verse
1 having therefore having therefore these promises dearly beloved
Watch this now. Let us what? Cleanse ourselves. Do you see that? That's an imperative. We call that a commandment. Those
are instructions that are given to us to do. Now notice what
the premise upon which those commandments are given. Here's
the premise. Here's the motive. Here's the impetus or drive for
which I am inclined to cleanse myself. Are you ready? The promises
of God. Having therefore these what? Promises. You see that? God always
gives us gospel promises before he gives us commandments to respond
to him. And the promise that God gives
in that context is in the previous chapter where he says, come out
from among them, touch not the unclean thing. I will be your
God and you will be my people. I will be your father, you will
be my children. So long as you come out. And what God was saying to his
people is make a decisive break with all the idols of the world.
Call me Lord. Submit to me as the absolute
ruler and I promise you I'll be your God. I'll be your father,
your father. Now, having received these promises,
watch this, let us, this is Paul talking as a pastor to the church,
let us, not just you, us, let us cleanse ourselves, got it? From all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit, doing what? Perfecting holiness in the fear
of God, you got that? Now, I'm not gonna spend a whole
lot of time deconstructing that text, it has been jacked up,
messed up, made to be a sort of a list of do's and don'ts
and legalisms that have been heaped on people's heads. Holiness
is far from you making up your own arbitrary list of rights
and wrongs. Holiness is far from that. Holiness
is far from you determining what's right, what's wrong, what's good,
what's bad. But the imperative to cleanse ourselves is still
legitimate, which means if I'm called to the process of cleansing,
what I need to do is get from God the list. What you want me
to do? Because I don't want to just
do my own thing, because doing my own thing will be futile.
Don't leave me to myself. I'll build a system of self-righteousness
and worse religion that will throw me into hell. But help
me understand what it means for me to cleanse myself from all
filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit Perfecting holiness
in the presence of God now. I want to just deal with that
last clause Perfecting holiness in the fear of God you guys see
that do you guys see that? That last clause there perfecting
holiness in the fear of God is what I want to blow up and put
in your head Because what that's talking about is the same process
It's talking about the process It's talking about the process.
It's talking about learning how to walk with God. It's talking
about learning how to walk with God. You got that? See, the objective
for you and I, having received the promises of God, he'll be
our father, he'll be our God, we'll be his children, we'll
be his people, is that we are to cleanse ourselves from the
filthiness of fleshly issues, spiritual issues, because after
all, our job is to perfect holiness in the fear of God. Now the word
perfect there means to mature. This is the word to mature. And
what that means is we practice walk with God that grows us up
in him we practice a walk with God that grows us up in him y'all
got that last line we practice a walk with God that grows us
up in him perfecting what's the word holiness now Again, if that
legal term evades you, here's the best way to put it. God first. What's holiness? God first. God
first. Pastor, explain holiness to me.
Holiness is simply when you put God first. When you think about
doing a thing, you simply say, what does God have to say about
it? I want this to be very practical because we live in a very antinomian
licentious age where the whole idea of walking with God is so
ethereal and so abstract that we don't know what this means.
To be holy is to simply be a person who has sought the kingdom of
God as their primary objective, letting everything else come
to them. Remember Matthew chapter 6 verse
33? Seek ye first the kingdom of God. and all his righteousness
and everything else will take care of itself. Is that what
that says? Well, that's what it means to practice holiness.
To practice holiness simply means, okay, when I go about to pursue
this event or to make a decision about this particular enterprise,
I need to just find out what God has to say about it. It's
just that simple. It's just that simple. To be
holy is not some kind of intrinsic virtue by which somehow you get
special revelations. You hear voices float around
the room. You can do that smoking weed. We're going to have some problems
here in California because our country is so jacked up. They're
starting to legalize that stuff. People, you're talking about
problems. We're getting ready to have problems. We're getting
ready to have problems. But just in terms of the mystical
idea of having revelation, because you know some folks will pretend
to be holy. They pretend holiness. And so
then they act like they have a secret chamber into the presence
of God, where God shows them things that he won't show you.
They pretend, and that's nothing but a farce, a scam. Holiness
is not somehow you having a secret chamber into the back where God
can talk to you like you something more special than every other
member of the body of Christ. It's the same blood that paid
for you, that paid for me, that gives me the same access that
it gives you. No, holiness is simply when I
make a determination, I ask the question, what does God think
about it? What does God's word say about it? That's all. I highly
regard what God thinks about it. Am I making some sense? I'm
not just going off half-cocked doing what I want to do. Proverbs
3, 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. Do not lean upon your own understanding. Acknowledge
him. How? In all your ways. And he'll direct
your path. You know what that's called?
Holiness. Let's call holy and come on Saints. I know a few
of you know the Lord whenever we do it our own way. We jack
it up. Am I telling the truth? So what
what what what Paul is saying to the church at Corinth is is
listen, you guys have been called out of darkness. You live in
a very pagan Athenian culture with vices everywhere. If you're
going to be the children of the Living God, you have to make
a clean break with false religion and you have to walk with God.
And your life now, prior to you dying and going to glory or Christ
returning again, is a life of practice. It's just practice. You know how a doctor has a practice?
And a lawyer has a practice? The saints have a practice. We
have a practice. You got that? You know how institutions
have practices? We have a practice. What's our
practice? Walking with God. Now I told
you the error that the Gentile world made was they pursued wisdom. That's Romans 1. They pursued
wisdom. Thinking themselves wise, they
became fools. God tells you and I, you and
I don't have to pursue wisdom. Christ is our wisdom. Pursue
holiness. Pursue righteousness. Walk with
God. After all, that's the reason
why he called you out of darkness, to have fellowship with him.
It's as simple as saying, what does God say? Now, you know,
that's hard, isn't it? Isn't that hard? I'm talking
about all the micro decisions that you make in life. And you
know how you get to a point where you actually think you can make
decisions without conferring with God? We do it a lot. And what happens is the accumulative
acts of doing what we want to do without seeking God's help
result in us going down a direction or a path that gets us into major
trouble. Then God has to enter in. Am I making some sense? And
what Paul is saying and what John is saying is the man that
has this hope upon him, the woman, the people, the church, they
will enter into the process of purification because, watch this
now, because he is pure. Because he's pure, because I'm
in Christ, because Christ is pure. It's time for me to work
through a little bit more on that. Let me see where we are
with this here. Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. One more
verse. Go with me to first Peter chapter 122. Then I want to go
back to our text and go into the terms that John uses before
we close. We're going to close here in
a few minutes. I want to go back into the text and deal with some
of the terms that John uses and we'll come back and unpack this
next week. Next week will be our last Friday study for a couple
of weeks. Cause we always have our Christmas
break. We'll break for two weeks and we'll come back. I'm thinking
the second week of January, the week after, the Friday after,
I'm sorry, the new year. So that'll probably be like the
fifth or the sixth. I don't know what that is. First
John chapter three. I'm gonna read now verse four
through six. First John chapter three, four
through six. I'm sorry we didn't do Peter yet all right let's
do Peter let's do Peter now this is going to be quick because
all Peter is doing here in this text is echoing echoing what he said to the Jewish brethren
in Acts 15 but you still need to see it so Peter explains how
you and I were redeemed he says in verse 19 or first Peter chapter
1 but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him, that is through Christ, do we believe
in God. We can't believe in God without Christ, that raised him
up from the dead. See, the resurrection is part
and inherent in what we believe, and gave him glory in order that
your what? Faith, and your what? Might be
in God. seeing you have what purified
your souls now watch this in Acts 15 it says by faith here
it says in obeying the truth it's saying the same thing you
got that see you can't walk by faith if you aren't obeying the
truth Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Here's
what Peter said. You were purified in your evangelical
obedience to the gospel. When the gospel came in power
and you said yes to Christ, you were washed by the Spirit of
God. Got it? That's what Peter said.
Now this is another one of those passages that is A passive dynamic
that happens one time and it has permanent effect. Seeing
you have purified your soul. That phrase, seeing you have
purified, is in what we call a perfect verb form, which means
it happened one time and it's perfectly adequate to have accomplished
the purpose for which that one act occurred. Something that's
done perfectly is flawless. It is complete. It is total. It does not have to be done again. It has all of the necessary components
in that act. to have changed you permanently.
So when you and I were born again, we were permanently purified
in our position with God. The practice part is the daily
walk down here in the context of sanctification that's required
because we still have a fallen nature and because we still need
to negotiate a relationship with God. Are you guys following me?
It's very important to know. But in this context, what Peter
says is faith amounts to Obeying the truth through the spirit
The spirit is what brought the gospel And the truth of the gospel
is what we believe that's what it means to obey And here's the
end product. I want you to see this because
john is about to affirm this where does purification lead
us to? When we become born again when
the gospel comes in power in our life and it starts leading
us in this process of sanctification Where that is does it lead us
to are you ready? It leads us to love of the brethren when you and I are born again
and we have been begotten of the Spirit of God, we are brought
into the family of God. Once we are brought into the
family of God, now we are walking with the family and learning
how to love one another. Got that? So let me just make a little
statement about that that's critical to your understanding. You and I are not going to be
a productive Christian, a fruitful Christian, a Christian that glorifies
God, if we try to separate our own unique stance of justification
and acceptance with God from the call to love those who are
also begotten of God. People try it all the time. People try to be Christian all
the time without being Christian with the body. People try to
be Christian all the time without recognizing that Christianity
is a we factor, we factor, we factor. When God saves you, he
brings you into a body. He brings you into a membership.
He brings you into a family. He brings you into a church,
the church of the living God, whether locally or worldwide,
you become part of the weed factors. What I said last night in the
gospel and sexuality class, where all of those knucklehead college
students were saying, don't speak for me. The pastor was speaking
truth, and those knuckleheads calling themselves Christians
was saying, don't speak for me, you idiot. Wherever a believer
speaks for God, he's speaking for me. dummy this ain't about
you it's about him for us this is why in the Lord's Prayer our
father not my father got it who art in heaven hallowed be your
name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven give not me us our daily bread forgive us debts, forgive
us our trespasses, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from
evil. You got that? This here is the
the high view of the kingdom of God critical to God's glory
and our welfare. You meet Christians who have
a low view of the church, you're going to meet a Christian who
is not productive for the glory of God. Did you guys get that?
You meet a Christian who has a low view of the church, you're
going to meet a lone ranger maverick sitting out there on some inner
tube in the middle of the ocean pretending that he's busy about
his master's business. The Lord that exiled him to the
island of Patmos. The other thing about him is
he's miserable. You want to meet miserable people? Meet people
who don't understand the joy from being hooked up with the
saints and engaged in the enterprise of the gospel with the saints,
part of the ministry with the saints. That's why you never
saw Jesus alone. Did you get that? Never. Never. Even when he went into the core
of his conflict, by which he affirmed his unique sonship status,
where he cried, I'm a father. He said, fellas, will you go
with me? Will you go with me? Will you enter into this struggle
with me? Will you pray with me while I talk to the father? Are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? This is the idea of I'm a lone
ranger Christian. That's an oxymoron. Ain't no
such thing. No such thing. the end product
is yeah people like to avoid this but I'm here to tell you
if you really want to experience the fullness the fullness make
learning how to walk with God whereby you become a blessing
to the Saints your primary job do you hear me Make your walk
with God as the foundation upon which now you can be a blessing
to the saints, your primary objective. Because that's going to put you
in a position with God to be useful. Because the saints always
need encouragement. The saints always need affirmation.
The saints always need guidance. The saints always need a word.
The saints always need somebody to lift them up. Always need
somebody to pray for them. I'm praying for you, brother.
I'm thinking about you. Pray for me. What has God done
for you today? Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? This idea of running around trying to be this little
bitty individual. You can't hold but a thimble
yourself. You understand? That's all we
can hold is a thimble. Your cup will dry up in the middle of
the night and you'll be so afraid you won't even go to sleep. You'll
stay up all night having nightmares because you're so You've been
turned into a cactus, dried up from the roots, smelling bad
to yourself, wondering if you're saved. So no, he says, unfeigned
love of the brethren. This is where our text is going.
Go back now. I want to just spend a few more minutes before we
close I want to bother you a little bit with the technicalities of
the terms here and then we'll come back next week and really
delve into them. Remember what I am talking to
you about right now is union with Christ. Don't forget that. When God talks to his people
in imperatives and in commandments instructions, when he's talking
to his people in commandments and instructions, God is talking
to a people whom he views as in himself. He doesn't view you
on the outside of him, on the outside of his spirit, on the
outside of Christ, not having all of the necessary resources
to be able to do what he is giving you instructions to do. Did that
make some sense? God doesn't view you and me as
children on the outside telling us to do something that's impossible
for us to do without giving us the resources to do it. He always views us as in Christ. He always views us as inside
of the person who has the capacity and the office of helping us
fulfill the will of God. What are you talking about, pastor?
Philippians chapter two, verse 12 and 13. Wherefore, work out
your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who
is at work in you, got it? to produce the desire and the
fulfillment of the thing that God commands you to do. For it
is God who is at work in you and with you to produce the desire
and the accomplishment of that thing that he calls you to do.
Do you guys got that? That's how The gospel commands
are to be viewed for the Christian. They are never viewed as given
to you to try to work this thing out by yourself. Now, let me
go on. This is quite fascinating. Watch this. So he says in verses
four through six, whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law,
for sin is the transgression of the law. You guys see that?
So he's getting right into what we would call now the distinctive
factors. distinctive factors. John is
getting ready to get into the distinctive factors between the
children of God and the children of what? The devil. He said this
is how the devil's children walk. They constantly, constantly transgress God's law. Now how do you know
that that's true? Well, because before you became
a child of God, that's all you did. Constantly lived in an ongoing
state of transgressing God's law. Now again, the King James
Bible is difficult because the verb forms in the King James
do not do justice to the verb forms in the original language.
So I'm going to amplify what the text is saying with the emphasis
of the verb form so you can understand what's going on. Whosoever practicing
sin some of your translations will say that whosoever is practicing
sin is also transgressing God's law for sin is a transgression
of God's law now remember what I said every institution every
company every business has a practice where when you are unsaved, you're
part of the business and institution of the devil. And you wear a
white jacket, and on your jacket it has a title, and you engage
in a practice for the devil. You know what that practice is?
It's the practice of constantly sinning against God's law. This
is how you know you are a child of the devil. Your lifestyle
is committed to rebellion against God. You can't do anything else.
There's nothing else you can do. That's how we know we're
children of the devil. All we can do is rebel against
God. All we can do is violate God's
law. All we can do, the carnal mind,
Romans chapter eight, verse seven, six and seven, is enmity against
God. It cannot do the law of God. It cannot keep God's commandments
and doesn't want to. Remember when you were in that
state? Hated God, hated his word, hated his truth, did whatever
you wanted to do. And what John is saying is this. When you and
I were outside of God, we simply lived that way. It was who we
were. You remember that? It was who
we were. That's all we did. We loved filth. We loved vanity. We loved folly. We loved foolishness. We loved getting high. We loved
chaos. We loved crime. We loved violence.
I did. This is what, I grew up that
way. It was just so normal to me.
I was clueless about this other world. I had no knowledge of
this other world. And whatever I was told about
it by my grandparents, it was like I told you before, when
you're unsaved, the kingdom of God is like window shopping.
You're on the outside of the store looking through the window
at the product, but it don't benefit you at all. You just
have this intellectual speculation about what it is until somebody
opens the door, let you in to try on the stuff. And that's
what happens when you convert it. You get to go on the inside.
Am I making some sense? So stay with me for a few more
minutes because I just want to I want to confront you with the
language and then next week we'll unpack it. John is not speaking
here of the believer. He's speaking of the children
of the devil. Verse five, and you know that he, that is Christ,
was manifested to do what? Take away our sins. Now watch
this, and in him is no what? So now he takes Jesus and he
says, Christ came to take away our sin and in him is no sin
at all. In other words, he's giving us
an object lesson of the one man who didn't live his life like
me. like you see here's the here's the thing from the time Jesus
was born to the time he died he always obeyed God I am always
not one time did he violate God's law you know how you know you
know how we always violated God's law he never violated God's law
And what John is doing here is raising Christ up above all of
the gods of this world, all of the leaders of this world, all
of the rulers of this world, all of the peons of this world
who people look up to. And here's what God is saying.
He's the only one that came and went and never sinned. That's the first thing he's saying.
Now watch this. He's actually saying this. And
still, there is no sin in him which means those of us that
are in him can't go take sin and place it in him and say this
is who he is now because we're going back to chapter 1 dealing
with those knuckleheads who say that they are believers but are
not are you hearing what I'm saying so we have this glorious
person who is sinless and his person he's sinless in his work
and he's eternally sinless in his position and the reason why
John lifts him up and puts him here is to show you something
that you and I who are believers are in him you got that believers
are in him in him that makes a major impact not only on my
position before God which before God I'm sinless Are you hearing
me? He who knew no sin became sin
for me, that I might become the righteousness of God in him,
positionally, because Christ has no sin in him, and because
I'm in him, I have no sin. This is a wonderful concept necessary
for me to grasp. This is part of the promise of
God that's given to me, of which I receive by faith, because it's
not part of my experience. It's what I am in him. Are you hearing me? It's not
what I am in myself. It's what I am in him. And this
is going to be critical to my continued journey of purification. Who he is and who I am in him
regulates what I do. If I misinterpret and distort
who he is, I'm setting myself up for failure. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? I think I'm going to stop right
there. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for Jesus Christ, who's
the only hope of sinners. Only hope of sinners. He is wholly
harmless and without transgression, separated from sinners, and yet
the bible says he ever lives to make intercession for those
who come to him by faith. We are beholding your word which
talks about the path of the believer lord and we admit that apart
from your grace we can't do it and so we ask for your grace
to help us to walk in the reality of these truths and to love you
enough to want to make sure that when we make decisions we ask
the question what would god do and what would he think about
this and then seek advice so that we can walk in the path
of purification by faith because we want to be able to say when
we see you and we have confidence because you have given us your
grace to be able to look to you into hope and glory as we go
our way give us traveling mercies prepare us to worship you on