The word of God prophets us in
terms of edifying us and building us up when we listen to it actively. It's going to be very important.
Secondly, as we get ready to go into 1 John 2, what I want
to simply remind you in 1 John 1 about, and that is the whole
idea of confession. I don't want to be too redundant,
but what John has begun to explain to us concerning confession as
we read it in verse 9 of 1st John chapter 1 these words if
we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness I want to make sure that you
understand that when we look at the term confession both in
the old and in the new what confession is is an open and plain declaration
of of who God is. Confession is
an open and plain declaration of who God is. God's glory, God's work, God's
purpose in our world. When you are a confessor in Christ,
you are not merely a person who has affirmed an act that took
place once in your life. A confessor is a lifelong individual. Did we not apprehend that in
the last study? That to be a confessor is to
be one who from the point of meeting God in conversion to
the point of meeting God in glory, what our life is about is confessing
him as Lord. And that's not a formulaic expression,
again, that's confined to a sort of soteriological model or a
salvation process. Everything that we come to learn
about God, we as confessors of God are ready to declare it. To be a confessor is to declare
all that we have come to know about God. And the word in the
Old Testament is used three ways. It's used to declare thanks. It's used to exalt and express
praise. And it's used to confess who
God is and our need of Him. I will only go to three verses
to once again affirm this. Go with me in your Bible to Psalm
119. In fact, go to Psalm 75 verses
one and two. This is the Hebrew word yadah
that I want to once again underscore. Now, the reason for which the
translators are translating the word to confess In this context,
to give thanks, I think will be evident when we read verse
one and two. And I want to make sure this
impacts you. When you and I are confessing God, we are being
wide open, unhindered. We are being plain and frank
and we are, as it were, unloading all that we know about God. To
confess means to hold back nothing that you know about someone or
something. It is fundamentally, it is fundamentally
the same thing that goes on in a courtroom when you are required
to give testimony about what you know. In this sense, because
the Hebrew terminology, the Hebrew language is so broad and variated
in its expression, it has such a colorful dynamic and nuance
to it. In this context, the Hebrew term
Yara is being used to declare how people respond to the revelation
of God to them. And therefore, a confessor is
one who lives a thankful life because of who God is in their
life. Look at Psalm 75, verse one and two. Unto thee, O God,
do we give what? Unto thee do we give thanks for
that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare. Do you see that
phraseology? And notice what he's saying.
We are giving thanks unto you, which means we are responding
to you. And it's very clear that the
thanks that we are giving to God is vocal and existential. That means we're being wide open
about who God has made himself to be to us. And then he explains
why we are thankful. Now watch it. He says, we are
thankful for that your what? Name. That means his identity. That means his characteristics.
That means his attributes. That means His glory. That means
His work. The name identifies the person. For that your name is near, thy
wondrous works declare. This is what the psalmist is
saying. If a person ever meets God in
the manifestation of His glory and grace and reveals to that
person who he is in his redemptive work, that person is going to
give thanks. He's going to respond with the
appropriate emotion and expression of thanksgiving unto God. This word can be translated,
confess, confess. People who confess God are thankful
people. People who confess God are grateful
people. People who confess God are ready
to tell it. People who confess God are people
who are impacted by a revelation of God. So when you meet people
who are not thankful, you have every reason to question whether
or not they have met God. Psalm 119, Psalm 119. I want you to see this expression
in Psalm 119, verse 62 as well. Psalm 119, verse 62, then one
more verse. Now, I only chose a few verses
out of the Psalms, although the term Yadah is translated thankful
and praise in the Psalmist in several places, I just chose
the few as an example in order that you and I might be able
to get a fuller grasp on what I am talking about. So this is
David talking in Psalm 119, the Psalmist is saying, starting
at verse 59, if you're there, And let me start at verse 57,
because this is really an essential context. You are my portion.
Do you see that? We would call that in theology,
confessing God, right? You are my portion. I am confessing
God as my inheritance. You are my portion. Oh, Jehovah,
I have said that I would keep thy words. I entreated thy favor
with my whole heart. Be merciful unto me according
to your word. The word word here is another
word for promise. Be merciful unto me according
to your promise. You see the tie-in when we go
back to 1 John. Notice, I thought on my ways,
I turned my feet unto your testimonies. I made haste and delayed not
to keep your commandments. The bands of the wicked have
robbed me, but I have not forgotten your law. Here it is, verse 62,
watch this. At midnight, I will rise to give
thanks unto you. because of your righteous judgment.
Do you see that? At midnight, I will confess you
to be God because even in the midst of my trouble, I know that
you will deliver me. Do you guys see that? The psalmist
is saying, when I get into my darkest hour, when I experience
my greatest trouble, even at that time, I'm going to give
you thanks. Now he's not making a promise
to God based upon just sort of a frivolous notion. He's saying
that, All that God has revealed to him concerning God causes
him to be so confident that even in the midst of his trouble,
he will give God thanks. He'll trust that God is faithful.
He'll know that God will come through. He'll know that God
will deliver him in time of trouble. He will wait on God. God has
delivered him before. God will deliver him again. In
the midst of darkness, he will confess the Lord. Now, it's interesting
what's going on here as I am making the application of confession
relative to thanksgiving because thanksgiving is generally understood
as an emotion, an expression of emotion. But it is certainly
volitional here, right? In other words, there's an intentionality
here. There's a purpose here. The person
here is saying, this is what I'm going to do. So thanksgiving
is not first and foremost, a mere emotional response, but a volitional
response based upon a knowledge of God that results in us being
thankful to God. One more verse I want you to
go to, and that is Psalm 142. Psalm 142, verse seven. And then
we will make our way into chapter two. Psalm 142, verse seven. Here's how the Psalmist puts
it in this context. Again, in the Psalms, we have
great, great Christian theology, particularly around the area
of deliverance. The Psalms are enormous and tremendous
works that comfort the believer, knowing that God will deliver
them in time of trouble. Verse five, I cried unto thee,
O Lord. I said, you are my refuge and
my portion. There it is again, in the land
of the living. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. This brother needs help, doesn't
he? Now watch this now. Verse seven, bring my soul out
of prison. that I may praise thy name. Do you see it? Bring my soul
out of prison in order that I might confess you as God. Therefore,
the idea of confession, if we are to take this word thanksgiving
and thankfulness and praise and extrapolate its definition, really
has everything to do with worship. When a man or woman or a people
confess God as Lord because of a revelation of his glory in
their life, they are expressing their confession of him in a
context of worship. Worship is one of the premier
manifestations of what it means to confess God. The hour is coming
when those that worship God will worship him in spirit and in
truth. For such the father seeketh to
worship him. So when we are rightly worshiping
God, you know what we are doing? Confessing him as Lord. When
we are rightly worshiping God, you know what we are doing? We
are expressing thanksgiving. When we are rightly worshiping
God, we are in a symphonic manner, expressing collectively the praise
due to God. His name. You meet people who
confess God, they worship God. They just want you to get that.
So now go with me back to our text. Here's what I want to say
as a proposition moving into 1 John 2, verse 1. And that's this, what John says
to us in 1 John 1, verse 9 and 10. especially verse nine is this.
If we are confessing our sins, it's in the present indicative
verb form, which means we are confessing our sins all the time. It is part of who we are. As
we said a couple of weeks ago, and in fact, last week, there's
a distinction between sin and false. We talked about how that
sins are those very explicit and deliberate things that we
come to know that we have done by which we are to go to God
and acknowledge our sinfulness and transgression before him.
Faults are unintentional acts by which we cross the line and
produce offense of which once we find out, we must now also
confess our faults that will lie primarily but not exclusively
on the horizontal plane. Remember James chapter five,
confess your faults one to another so that you may be healed. And
the idea is that you and I will cross lines and create offenses
unawares, unknowingly, and as people of grace, who realize
that we are both righteous and sinful at the same time, that
we have been delivered from a state of sin into a state of grace,
but not yet in a state of glory. We are in a process between regeneration
and perfection by which we are more than willing to admit that
we do cross the line. So I don't have a problem when
a brother comes to me and says, Pastor, you offended me. I'm
sorry. I'm sorry, I probably did, I'm sorry. And we should
be able to do that with one another. And we shouldn't have a problem
with admitting, you know, man, sometimes I'm just weak spiritually.
I have a problem with that issue, don't you? In a grace-oriented
environment, you don't have to pretend that you're something
that you're not. In a grace-oriented environment, we are sort of affirming
our status by acknowledging that we still need to be worked on. In a grace-oriented environment,
therefore, it is a presupposition, an a priori position that we
are not in ourselves perfect. That's a grace-oriented environment.
And this is a critical mindset to have because if you are professing
to be something that you are not, when you are threatened
to be what you really are, then you're going to try to hide from
the reality of what you are to uphold what you are saying that
you are but in fact are not. And we call that legalism and
self-righteousness. In a context of grace, we are
confessing that we are simultaneously righteous in him and sinful in
ourselves. And that struggle is part of
our conformity to Christ. Are you guys with me so far?
Now it's important for you to understand this and not say more
than I'm saying, because as we get into chapter two, chapter
two is going to treat this condition more definitively, because there
are people who struggle with the simultaneous nature of what
it means to be a believer. And they struggle with it to
the point of making the mistakes that John says we should not
make. And that is to say that we have no sin, to say that we
did not sin, and to say that we do not sin. That's a mistake
to make if you are trying to struggle with juxtaposing what
you are in Christ and what you are in yourself. You need to
be humble at some point to recognize you are not perfect. And as such,
There are places in your life that have flaws and weaknesses
and areas in which you and I are vulnerable to be alleged as being
guilty. And we have to accept that. That's
a place of humility. But there is a place in God for
people of God in this process, we call it a process of growth
and maturity in Christ, wherein we are secure. And that place
is on the grounds of his blood and righteousness. This is what
verse seven of chapter one is alluding to. The blood of Jesus
Christ continues to cleanse us from sin. So verse nine goes
like this. I want you to get it. If you don't get it in this
study, get the tape. If we are presently and continuously acknowledging
what we are in Christ and what we are in ourselves, then we
can be confident that God is both just and faithful. That is faithful and just. to have already forgiven us of
our sins and to have already cleansed us from all unrighteousness. That's the literal translation.
So let me say it one more time just so you can get this. If
we will agree with God to tell the truth, that's what it means
to confess. Acknowledge God for all of his glorious attributes
and his impeccable qualities. and acknowledge ourselves to
not yet be in a state of perfection, although that perfection is secured
in Jesus Christ. Therefore, I am a sinner saved
by grace, and I am in the process of perfection. He is faithful
and just to have already forgiven us all of our sins, past, present,
and future, and to have already cleansed us from all unrighteousness,
past, present, and future. One is a present indicative ongoing
process where we are confessing what we are. The other is the
imputation of a past perfect finished work that Christ accomplished
on Calvary Street 2000 years ago, which is yours when you
tell the truth about God and about yourself. Did that come
across pretty clear? One is what we do now because
it brings God glory and praise to be the savior of sinners.
It not only brings God glory and praise to be the savior of
sinners. If you and I tell the truth about what we are in our
present condition, we bless three people. This was in your previous
outline. We bless three sorts of people. When believers tell
the truth about their struggles, about their needs, their weaknesses,
their foibles, their sins, in a grace-oriented context, there
are three categories of people we bless. Here it is. The three
categories of people that we bless are those who are unsaved,
brand new believers and fallen believers in Christ. Did you
hear what I just said? When you tell the truth about
what you are in your walk with God and you don't lie, because
if you lie, you are no longer confessing. To confess is to
be wide open, is to tell the truth, is to admit where you
stand, both in terms of where you are in God and where you
are in yourself, you will bless unsaved people. Because the gospel
is evangelical by nature. It's designed to appeal to the
sinner. But if you are no longer a sinner,
you have nothing by which you can actually identify with the
sinner. You're way over here in glory land with Abraham. Abraham bosom ostensibly and
the sinner is way over there in the pit of hell miserable
and the twain never meet when there's no evangelism in that
particular construct are you guys hearing me but if you are
truly what you are according to the Word of God you are living
in two worlds at the same time you are seated in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus and and you are still making your way through
this wicked world in this wretched body, you can lend a hand to
a lost sinner by telling him about a Savior who can save you
and him at the same time. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
This is the evangelical nature of the gospel and it must be
done. This is the hardest part of theology for churches as it
was for the apostles when Jesus says, this is my work to call
sinners to repentance. This is what I do. But in order
for me to do that, I have to go where they are, be among them
and to recognize them and to help them understand that the
word of God and the promises of God are not far from any one
of you if you will, but believe the gospel. That's evangelical. And it's also honest. So you're
going to help an unbeliever when you tell an unbeliever that your
hope does not lie in your performance, but in what Christ did, you're
gonna help that unbeliever. You're gonna help the new believer
in Christ who is gonna fall prey to thinking when they join a
local church, that somehow everybody in the local church is far, far
advanced more than they are spiritually. They're going to be looking at
you saints and they're going to think your feet don't move. It's just six
inches off the ground. You just floating around. That's how new
believers are. They really think you holy. They really think you
holy. And then you try to pull a wool
over their eyes by talking a certain way and acting a certain way
around them. And yeah, well, you know, you'll grow and you'll
mature at some point, you'll, you'll get where I'm at. I'm
at at some point. And then two months later, they, the new believer
goes through this real trippy revelation after two months in
the church. when he or she starts to recognize
the same propensities and sinful proclivities in the mature saint
that's in them. And they really start scratching
their head, wondering if they're saved or if that saint is saved
because somebody's lying. Are you hearing me? Somebody's
lying here. So you know, for a moment you had me, but now
I'm watching and you guys are tripping up just like I am. Now
I have an excuse. I'm a new believer, but what
about you? Well, see, we've been lying, haven't we? We've been
telling lies. We haven't been telling the truth.
And so what an understanding of our present struggle in the
context of sanctification, therefore acknowledging that we still have
a sin nature, therefore acknowledging that we still have sinful bodies
that crave sinful things. That means we're not going to
lie about what goes on in our minds. therefore also acknowledging
we're gonna see this when we get into verse 1 of chapter 2
we do an exegesis of it that we do have times when we fall
we're gonna acknowledge that that's going to comfort the new
believer so that the new believer does not think somehow that it
is strange for them to find that they fail to do what they have
now been created to do apart from the grace of God am I making
some sense Okay, then I'll be able to go on. So the third category,
as I said, the first category is the unbeliever. The second
category is a new believer. And the third category, and this
is very important, is the fallen believer. Oh, nothing like a
fallen believer in a legalistic, self-righteous church. The fallen
believer doesn't wanna let the church know he in trouble at
all. I'll get emails from folks that go to different churches,
because they listen to grace preaching, And they'll ask me
for counsel and tell me, please don't tell nobody at my church
what I'm going through because of the legalism there. Because
people will not be able to understand how they made the mistake that
they did without wanting a pound of flesh, without people wanting
to excise them or to discipline them or censor them. They're
afraid that they won't actually be able to walk in the light
in a community that professes to know God because they are
struggling through an issue. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? If we develop a community like that, we can be sure that
that community is not grace oriented. It does not know the gospel.
It does not have a recovery plan. It does not have the capacity
to restore fallen centers. It does not know what it means
to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
So, when I say that we are confessing to be simultaneously righteous
and sinful at the same time, we are acknowledging a critical
work of the gospel in its threefold parts. Justification, sanctification,
and what? Glorification. Those are the
three major pillars of what takes place in our salvation. So, teriology
is broken up into three categories. What Christ did for us, Outside
of ourselves 2,000 years ago before we had a being of which
we can only embrace by faith because we were there We're not
there. Neither did we have anything to do with our justification
so that our justification is purely by grace Obtained by faith
hope then because God is faithful can't lie change our fail The
rebirth that takes place by which we can embrace our justification
is this process that I'm saying that we have to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord. Now, and when we are in this
process of growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord,
I want to help you with one more category before we go into 1
John 2. God is uniquely working on all of us independently and
individually. You know what that means? You
don't have a right to determine the characteristic, the rate,
the process and maturity of any believer. You don't get to tell
a believer how fast he or she should be growing and what fruits
they should be manifesting in the first six months or the first
year or the first five years. That is not your domain or prerogative. As soon as you are making those
kinds of implications, you are playing God. That is a tragic
place to be. And it would probably indicate
that you have failed to take your own sanctification seriously.
Now we're doing what is called projecting. It's kind of disregarding
the serious work of self-analysis and self-assessment and self-seriousness
and getting into other people's business. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? And it often happens in families.
So husbands and wives need to be very careful. We can mourn
and grieve for a loved one who's supposedly been in the faith
30, 40, 50 years and don't seem to be bearing much fruit. We
can mourn and pray for them, but we need to be extremely careful.
But when it comes to new believers, be careful to step back and let
Jesus be Lord in their life. The best thing you can do for
new believers is live out the gospel yourself. That's the best
thing you can do for new believers. Don't pretend to be Lord over
their life. Be very careful about that. Romans chapter 14, by the way,
for this reason, Christ died and rose again, that he might
be Lord, both of the dead and of the living. And by the way,
why are you judging your brother? Since the Lord is able to make
him stand. You know, this is over the issue
of strong and weak and what we can eat, what we can't eat, what
we can drink, what we can't drink. Gotta be extremely careful about
those dynamics. All right, having said that,
I want us to now begin to move into chapter two and open this
up. The title of our series in chapter
two, which is gonna take us through verses one through seven, and
it's gonna take several weeks to get through verses one through
seven, is we have an advocate with the father. So what I wanna
do for this next 25 minutes is open up verse one according to
our outline and just deal with it. I'm gonna read verses one
through seven, and I'm gonna come back and start breaking
it open and follow the logic with me, saints. My little children,
these things I am writing unto you in order that you do not
sin. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the
propitiation for our sins and not only not for ours only, but
also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know
that we know him. If we keep his commandments,
he that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments
is a liar. And the truth is not in him,
but whosoever keepeth his word in him, verily is the love of
God brought to full maturity. Hereby know we that we are in
him. He that said he abideth in him
ought himself also to walk even as he walked. Brethren, I write
no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which
you have heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word
which you have heard from the beginning. I want to stop right
there. So what John is about to do, Saint, is to be much more
pastoral to his church than he was in the first chapter where
he had to balance between explaining the effects of heresy that had
taken hold of the local churches of which he was overseer and
had split those churches, drawing out people who had bought into
a Gnostic and a pagan idea that somehow we can make a dichotomy
between our flesh and the spirit and essentially say that we can
sin that grace may abound because we're really not sinners in the
eyes of God. That was a whole argument that he's dealing with.
And he's dealing with that because they have failed to understand
the essential work of Christ on Calvary Street relative to
their ongoing fellowship with God and ultimate culmination
in glory. And he's letting the church know
now We need to work through more fully. And he says, this is what
we're getting at. Saints, we need to work through more fully
the implications of the statement that we know him. That's what
John is getting ready to get into. We need to work through
more fully the implications of the statement that we know him. You see that statement in verse
three. And hereby we do know that we
what know him. Verse four, he that saith what? I know him, see it? And so he's
dealing now with the allegation that we know him. That was one
of the other heretical claims that had begun to emerge. It's
kind of like the quip sayings and the religious cliches that
we deal with in the church all the time. Oh, I know him. Do
you know him? I know him. And John is saying,
okay, if you say you know him, there should be some necessary
consequences to that knowledge of God. As I said before to you,
to say that you are a Christian is to say nothing. To say that
you are a believer is to say nothing. To say that you know
Christ is to say nothing because Christianity is not about what
you say, it's about what you are. Now this is so critical
to actually get into our thinking. A person is not a Christian because
they say they are a Christian. This is what James had to work
through in James chapter two, where people were saying, I have
faith. James says, listen, so what? Show me your faith by your
what? Then I'll know that you actually
have faith for until then, All I know is that you are saying
that you have faith. So what we are trying to do is
bridge the gap between what people say and what people are because
Christianity is not merely a verbal expression of something. It is
an indicative. It is a state of being. Christians
are a work of God. Christians are a miracle of grace. Christians are a new creature
in Christ. Christians are something that
God does and even though we are privileged to tell people that
we are Christians We are not affirming our Christianity by
merely telling them that we are Christians. Are you guys with
me so far? So we're getting ready to get into this knowledge thing
of knowing God but before we do John has something to establish
in first John chapter 2 verse 1 and and two, that falls in
the category of pastoral care. And here's what he says in chapter
two, verse one. The first thing I want to call
your attention to is the little opening phrase, my little children. Do you guys see that? Now, of
course, if a pastor uses that phraseology, my little children,
what he is doing now is asserting a kind of relationship to the
people to whom he's speaking, right? When John uses the phrase,
my little children, he uses it seven times in the epistle of
first John. He also uses it in second John
and third John. In fact, it's a title of endearment. It constitutes a filial relationship
between John and his hearers. Now, when we use the term, my
little children, be sure of this. John is speaking of a relationship
that is more than nominal. You don't go around talking to
grown people by calling them your little children. Okay. When a person uses that phraseology,
they are actually asserting a quality of relationship that exists between
them. Quite interesting. When you read
your Bible at length, let's say you start from Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, particularly the gospels in your younger days.
Didn't you run across statements in the Bible that were so absolutely
curious to you, you wonder why they use that phraseology? Well,
one of them is this, Jesus would say to the disciples, not frequently,
but from time to time, little children, little children. In fact, in John chapter 13,
he uses it, my little children. And then he uses it again in
John chapter 20 before he is resurrected when the disciples
are out fishing and They they didn't catch anything, you know,
they had to completely abandon the faith and Jesus on the shore
You remember that right John chapter 20, I believe and yet
cook some fried catfish and some hot water cornbread You guys
remember that he had it on the sideline waiting for the disciples.
We y'all don't remember that okay, so He had fixed the fish
just to let them know he had their back because they wasn't
gonna catch nothing that night because they were still working
with unbelief, right? But he cried out to him. He says,
little children, have you caught anything? Now I've told you before
in the Greek language, the phraseology children has three or four Greek
words that are unique and specific in the application. This word
here, technon is the Greek term. It's not up there. You can look
it up on your own. But the word technon is a term that means
to be like, to bear the likeness of. When that word is used in
the New Testament, whether by John or by Paul or by Jesus,
when it speaks to the people of God as God's technon or technia,
it is saying those who bear the image of the family. There are
four Greek words. The first one is Nepios, and
it describes the brand new baby in Christ as newborn babes desire
the sincere milk of the word, right? Nepios. And it's the phrase
for people who are born again, but don't have the capacity to
communicate biblical truth. Like little children can't talk,
but they can demonstrate that they're alive by having a voracious
hunger for that mother's milk, right? The one of the ways we
know that a person is well on their way to affirming their
salvation when they say they are believers in Christ is because
they're hungry for God's word. Let me help you with that. There
is no way for you to actually be a believer in Christ and you
have a laissez-faire attitude about the word of God. You cannot
have experienced a new birth, a resurrection, a quickening
of God's spirit, life from the dead by Christ coming and meeting
you in your tragedy and bringing you out and securing you in his
grace and mercy. And you don't at that point have
a hunger for God's word. Every person that's born of God,
born of God, has an initial avarice for God's word, just in the same
way a brand new baby thirsts for his mother's breasts. That's
how you know, that's how you know you are ready to hear the
word of God. You want it explained every time
it's preached. Your ear is wide open to it because
you feed on the word. It nourishes you. It builds you
up. It strengthens you. Am I telling
the truth? You meet people who are not ready
to hear the word of God. They're not born of God. Sorry.
It's a real evidence that they're in trouble. But the word nepios
has to do with that new hunger. The next word is the Greek term
pedion, a pedia, from which we have the word podiatrist as a
doctor of children, right? Pedion, and it's the Greek word
for instruction. We've learned that when a child
is six months to a year old, they move from that sort of helpless
state of just sucking that milk and crawling around and turning
into this big blob because they get big, don't they? And now
all of a sudden we are instructing them, aren't we? The relationship
changes from changing diapers and feeding them to saying no,
yes, this, that, and now you are instructing them. Padean
is instruction. That's a word that's constantly
used in the New Testament as well concerning those of us who
are children of God. We are under instruction. When
we come to the word Technon, here's what happens. You have
proven that you have been born again, Nepios. Pideion proves
that you are learning scripture. You are becoming educated. You
are being corrected, admonished, chastised. That's the other word
for Pideion, to chastise us. Whomsoever the Lord loves, he
what? And if you are children, he will chasing you. And if you
are bastards, he will leave you to yourself. Right. And so in
the process of development, you get corrected by God. You get
instructed by God. Now, watch this. Here's the next
stage between feeding on God's word as a Nepean and then developing
into a student of God's word. That's a party on. You start
to take on the characteristics of Christ. You start to manifest
the sonship, our family resemblance. This is where the word Technon
comes in. And what we mean by family resemblance
is this. And I want you to get this. What
we mean by family resemblance is that believers start to submit
to God's word and live out the gospel. That's what makes you
an evidential family member. Are you hearing me? You are in
the family because you have now been able to confidently take
on the name of God and you are now walking with the family of
God and following in the footsteps of those who are the family of
God. More than that, when you are
part of a local assembly, a body of believers, and you have matured
being taught right doctrine, you are evidentially part of
a local body that is a family of believers and you are under
the instructions and tutelage of those that God raises up to
be vehicles by which you now can confirm your sonship. We are brothers and sisters in
Christ. Is that true? As brothers and
sisters in Christ, therefore, we are part of the family. That
means there is a great deal of similarity in our thinking, our
conduct and in our practice they will know that you are my children
my disciples by the way you act in relationship to me this is
called children our family relationship so in your outline you have my
little children a term of endearment and it constitutes two things
a functional relation a functional Perspective in a relational perspective
and it's rooted in the coin not near coin in there is the Overarching
idea the fellowship the fellowship of the people of God is a fellowship
of family It's a fellowship of family. And when I say it's functional
relational in nature what I mean by that is the only way that
you and I can be children of God is through the embracing
of apostolic doctrine and You will know in the New Testament
that the apostle Paul, the Lord Jesus, and John use this term
children in relationship to those who have been converted under
their ministry. This was a prerogative that the
Lord Jesus had bestowed upon the apostles that when they went
forth to preach the gospel, the preaching of the gospel would
convert men and women and bring them into the family of God.
And they would serve as father surrogates to those who have
become true believers in the faith. I want you to see just
a few verses with this so that you can understand what I mean.
Go with me in your Bible to John chapter 3 I'll look at verse
1 through 3 to affirm this and then I want you to go to 1st
Corinthians chapter 4 The Lord Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus
You've heard this passage before but I want this to resonate in
your thinking as we think through what it means to be Little children
in John chapter 3 verses 1 through 3. Here's what it says there
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews
and The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi,
that's master. We know that you are a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that you do,
except he be, except God be with him. Now, Nicodemus understood
something about the letter of the law. He understood that people
weren't walking around every day doing miracles. When Jesus
did miracles, he did authentic miracles. He wasn't like the
crooks of his day or my day. He actually did miracles. There's
a big difference between talking about doing miracles and actually
doing miracles. Are you guys hearing me? Nicodemus
was a Pharisee. He was of the Sanhedrin rulership.
And therefore he had a knowledge of the word of God. He was a
theologian. He was one of the Eshelon theologians.
And so he understood a prophet that was raised up by God would
be given the capacity to actually speak for God. And then he would
have the sign witness of him being called by God of being
able to do a notable miracle. Well, when Jesus came on the
scene, he was doing miracles every day. It was evident that
he was from God. No one could do what Jesus did
and not be from God. You know what Nicodemus was proving
by that statement? Not that he was saved, but that
he was far from blaspheming the Holy Ghost, which his constituents
did. You see how God kept him? want
you to watch this now he's unsaved but he's watching this true genuine
prophet he's seen what this prophet does and he's affirming that
this prophet corresponds with the litmus test of scripture
he's saying we know you are a teacher come from God now he didn't say
we know you are God come to teach that's another revelation but
he did at least say we know you correspond to the scripture he
didn't say We know that you're the Messiah. That would be a
saving revelation. But he did know that what Jesus
did corresponded to the scriptures. That is a kind of grace that
God had given to Nicodemus that even people today don't know.
And so I'm telling you what you see happening with Nicodemus
is he's being drawn to Christ by the Holy Ghost. The Spirit
of God is bringing Nicodemus to Christ like the Spirit of
God brings sinners to Christ. Nicodemus is ready to suffer
the ignominy of being caught talking with Jesus. He's taking
the chance, isn't he? He is going to the man of which
his whole constituency is ready to kill. And he's talking with
him and he's calling him an equal peer in theological things. Now note what Jesus said. Jesus
answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, Truly
truly I send to you. This is a Hebrew double idiom,
which means I'm telling you the truth Nicodemus You got all this
right, but I want you to understand something. This does not mean
that you know God You guys get that that Nicodemus you You got
this aspect of your theology, right? You understand the biblical
qualifications of a prophet. You understand how authentic
miracles affirm a genuine and authentic prophet. That's true.
You have a knowledge about God, but you still don't know him. And there's a vast difference.
So watch the language. Jesus answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto you, except, this is the exception
clause, Man be born again. Do you guys see that? Except
a man be born again He cannot see the kingdom of God You know,
he's just told Nicodemus What you did Nicodemus amounted to
a blind man putting his hand on the wall using Braille and
By virtue of using Braille you got some things right, but you're
still blind to the reality of the kingdom of God You guys got
that? Except you be born again, you
cannot comprehend with the spiritual eye, the nature and reality and
presence of the kingdom of God. The reason I took you to that
verse is to help you understand that entering into the kingdom
of God requires you being born again. You actually have to become
a child of God. and to become a child of God
is a work of grace where God renews you. He makes you born
again. He changes your mind and heart.
He reveals to you his glory in what we call a saving knowledge
of God. It is a transformation that actually
brings you into the family. Are you guys following me so
far? Do you remember that radical distinction between going to
church and hearing doctrine Often it's the experience of our children
when they go to church because we, you know, we drug our children,
right? From the time they're little
until the time they leave home. I love that story. We drug them
to church. We drug them to Bible study.
We drug them theology class, keep drugging them. And, uh,
and, uh, and they heard and they learned a lot of things about
doctrine, but until God actually invaded their heart and made
them new creatures in Christ, they were simply borrowing our
traditions. This is why. Jacob and Esau Abraham
Isaac and Jacob Isaac and Jacob could talk about the God of Abraham
until they became converted once they became converted he was
Jehovah to them and So it is with men and women until they
actually experience what we call the new birth and that is the
Spirit of God invading your life Opening your understanding opening
your mind making you a new creature in your in Christ, which means
you have new affections new desires new passions and It doesn't take
away the struggles and the challenges, but what's added to you when
you are born again is a new principle. And that new principle is new
life. That new life is the life that
now has made you to be a partaker of the divine nature. You actually
become a son or daughter of God. Are you guys understanding what
I'm getting at? This is critical to the phraseology, my little
children. So here's what Jesus said, except
a man, except verily, verily, I say unto you, except you be
born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse four and
five, Nicodemus said unto him, how can a man be born when he's
old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and
be born? Which means he missed it, didn't he? Totally missed
it. Now, see, Jesus was politically incorrect, but that politically
incorrect proposition drew out Nicodemus's ignorance for himself,
because Nicodemus was clueless about what it meant to be born
again, even though he was a theologian. And here's what Jesus says to
accommodate him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man
be born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. Verse six clarifies this. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say unto
you, you must be born again. Then he talks about verse eight
being the, what we call the efficient agent. The spirit of God is the
efficient agent by which many women are born again. So Nicodemus had to struggle
with being lost by the preaching of Jesus Christ right there until
conversion took place. Because what Jesus just told
Nicodemus, is what a lot of people need to be told, you're still
lost. Until you're actually saved, you are lost. And Nicodemus was
still lost. And it was necessary for him
to know that in order for him to walk in the light. So he had
to struggle with what it means to be born again. Remember what
Jesus said? He says, flesh. He says that
which is flesh is flesh. What he was saying to Nicodemus,
just because you are blood descendant of Abraham, doesn't mean you're
in the kingdom of God. Just because you're a Jew doesn't
mean you're in the kingdom of God. Just because you go to church
doesn't mean you're in the kingdom of God. Just because you can
quote Bible verses doesn't mean you're in the kingdom of God.
Just because you're a teacher in the church, a deacon in the church,
an elder in the church, even a pastor in the church doesn't
mean you are in the kingdom of God. You must be born again. Man, I don't have time to do
an exegesis on what it means to be born again, because we
would have to deconstruct a lot of false notions on that. But
what it means is you have to be made a family member. And
in the same way that in order for you and I to be born the
first time, the will of other people have to be engaged in
order to bring you into existence. The will of God must be engaged
in order for you and I to be born again. In other words, you
cannot make yourself born again. The only way you can be born
again are born from above, are born the second time, are born
anew. which is the way those phrases
are used, is for God to do it. Are you guys following what I'm
saying? It's critically important. So going back to one more verse
now, go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter four. I'm affirming as
we open up 1 John chapter two, the pastoral care that John has
around the idea of wanting to help the children of God affirm
their confession and authenticate their fellowship with God with
regards to the statement the kind and endearment that he's
expressing when he says, my little children, which he says seven,
eight, nine times throughout those epistles. But here's how
the apostle Paul puts it in first Corinthians chapter four, so
that you can see that this matter was consistently held by all
the apostles as critical to authentic Christianity. And here's what
I'm getting at. When a man has been called to
the task of preaching the gospel, and being used of God to see
to it that men and women are brought out of darkness into
God's marvelous light and are authentically born again. What
he knows is that he has become in the hand of God a surrogate
for men and women to actually be born into the kingdom. And
so he serves as a father role in that process. And that title
is a title that should not be handled loosely. because everybody
that is somebody's spiritual father is not necessarily their
spiritual father in the gospel sense. And here's how the apostle
Paul puts it. I'm in 1 Corinthians chapter
four. This is the last verse. We'll go back, look at 1 John
2 a bit, and then we'll open the floor for some questions
if you have them. 1 John chapter four, verse one through verse
17. Listen to this. I write not these
things to shame you, but as my beloved, what's the word? Sons,
do you see that I write not these things to shame you but as my
beloved sons I warn you now in this particular statement is
the Apostle Paul acting like a pastor in This particular statement
is the Apostle Paul acting like a father Are the Corinthians
a bunch of Unbridled Confused lost their identity,
children that needs to be reigned in by a father that cares for
them. And so he's admonishing them
and warning them and instructing them like all good fathers do
their children. So that what Paul is saying is
just because I am warning you, I am not rejecting you as children. And in fact, my warning you is
indicating that I view you as children. Do you guys see that?
So in the church, if aspects of the preaching and teaching
ministry does not incorporate warning the people of God, you
will be treating those people as bastards. Did that make some
sense? In the ministry of the church
where the preaching and teaching comes in at, because the church
goes through the same dynamics of growth and waywardness as
any physical human being does. If in the ministry of preaching
and teaching, the congregation doesn't experience by the spirit
of God warnings, that church is being treated like a bastard.
You know what that means? That means that church doesn't
have the capacity to be rebuked by the Lord because the love
of the Lord is not in their life. That means the pastor and the
leadership only speaks and uses and declares messages that make
the people feel good. rather than to correct and admonish
and instruct and chastise and warn them as ought to be the
case when the people of God start to drift. I have discovered over
30 years that when the people of God, after hearing long periods
of wonderful biblical exposition and delighting in the revelations
and glories of Christ, find themselves having to traverse through those
difficult passages of scripture that warned them that their soul
delights in the immediacy of the Spirit of God dealing with
them personally because they know in their heart of hearts
they have gotten away from the Lord. And the Lord hunts them
down in the preaching and the teaching to tell them, I see
you. It goes on to say this, for though
you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, you do not have many
what? Do you see that? So now watch
this Saint you and I in the tenor of our life as Christians can
have a lot of instructors But someone was used to actually
bring about your conversion Got that and the Apostle Paul
attributes that to himself when it comes to the Church of Corinth
watch how he uses the phraseology Here is the instrumental means
by which the Apostle Paul was the surrogate father of the Church
of Corinth. For in Christ Jesus, do you see
the sphere? I have begotten you. That's the
rebirth. You got that? Through the what? So you see
what he's saying? It is because of Christ Jesus,
the incorruptible seed of Christ, that was used to bring you into
a state of salvation through the gospel. Begotten is the gender
language, is the birth language, is the bringing into the world
language like Abraham begot Isaac and Isaac begot Jacob. That's
the terminology that he's using. And he's making it clear that
men and women are not begotten apart from the word and men and
women are not begotten apart from Christ. Christ is the essential
means by which we're born again. The word of God is the instrumental
means by which we are born again. And we are born again through
the preaching of the gospel. That's what first Peter chapter
one, verse 23 through 25 says, we are born again of the word
of God, which lives and abides forever. So Paul here could call
himself a father figure to the church at Corinth. All right,
go back to first John. We're going to shut it down here. First John chapter
2 verse 1 as he opens up with my little children. Here's the
next expression. I'm just going to state it and
then I'm going to open up the floor for questions. I want you
to meditate on this as we work this through next week. Here's
the here's a statement that all that all that almost sounds like
a give-and-take statement. One of these statements that
blesses and takes away the blessing at the same time. He says my
little children these things I write unto you. It's in the
personal singular pronoun, these things I am writing unto you. And it's actually, he's talking
about what he was doing at that time. It's in the present indicative.
I am writing unto you, my little children, watch it. Here's what
we call the Hinnah or the purpose clause. In order that you do
not what? Did everybody read that that
way? I just wanna make sure you get that. This is so important.
John says, my little children, Those of you who were begotten
of the gospel through the instrumentality of preaching by me, I am writing
to you now so that you do not, what? Sin. Now, let's work with
that for just a moment for those of you who are startled by that
motive. Startled by that motive. Why
would we be startled by John's objective to write to the churches
about him for the purpose of them not sinning. Why would we
be startled by that statement? Why wouldn't that statement be
rational, reasonable, and the thing to be expected by the people
of God? Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Why would we even for a nanosecond go, what do you
mean, John? You're writing to us so that
we don't sin? John, that doesn't quite make
sense. It's blowing fuses. Well, the reason why he's blowing
fuses is because of how sinful we are. The whole purpose of the gospel.
The whole purpose of the gospel. Is to take away our sin. That's the whole purpose of the
gospel. And so long as the moment we
are threatened with an intent, or a motive, or a purpose, or
a design, or a scope, or an agenda, or an objective to deliver us
and extricate us from the presence, the power, and the practice of
sin, so long as we are startled by that, it indicates too much
of a comfort with it. Are you guys hearing me? So long
as we are apprehensive that anything about God that has to do with
stripping me from sin means that we love sin too much. So much so that even the thinking
capacities in our mind don't have a category that has been
developed and matured by the gospel that allows for that to
be the ultimate objective. Now, really what we should be
doing when we hear John says, listen, I'm writing these things
to you in order that you do not sin is go hallelujah. Give me
everything I can possibly have that will keep me from sinning.
Am I making some sense? Give me anything in God's universe
that will stop me from sinning. I want every gift. I want every
artillery. I want every apparatus. I want
every blessing. I want every resource that will
stop me from sinning one time. That's good, isn't it? You see
how jacked up we are? We're so jacked up. We aren't
even ready for God to deliver us from the sin that's sending
us to hell. I said that for effect, but what John is really dealing
with, and we're going to unpack this next week, John is dealing
with, um, the, the very thing that calls a large portion of
his church to depart from the faith. John is dealing with what
we understand is a little 11, 11 in the whole lump. John is
dealing with, the very thing that is the primary enemy of
the people of God, and that's the fallen nature. John is dealing
with helping the people of God understand that if we are going
to successfully enjoy the fellowship of the triune God and walk in
the light of the gospel, we have to have a right understanding
and right relationship to sin. If you are going to enjoy God,
It's because you are walking in the light. It's because you
think God's thoughts after him. It's because you want what God
wants. It's because you desire what
God desires. It's because you aspire to what
God aspires to. It's because you long for what
God has promised you in Christ. It's because you understand that
the one thing that keeps you from embracing fully all that
is yours in Christ is sin. It's sin. If you and I could have for one
24-hour period and if an effusion and Outpouring of grace that
was so pervasive and overwhelming in our life. I'm talking about
in our mind in our heart and in our affections, in our volition,
in our motive, in our inner thoughts, our outer thoughts, and get a
hold of us comprehensively so that for 24 hours we live totally
and completely to the glory of God. Should he allow us to go
back to the state that you and I are in right now? You know
what you would be saying? Like the apostle Paul says, like Daniel
says, like John says, who saw the glory of God having been
transported to heaven and seeing things that we don't get to see.
You know what you would be saying? Oh, wretched man that I am. because of such a powerful recognition
of the contrast between a greater level of grace that would liberate
you and I from this sinful body and sinful mind that hinders
us from enjoying God like we ought to. Now, you know I'm telling
the truth. Am I telling the truth? See, we have to know, saints,
we have to know that God's objective for us are great and exceedingly
precious promises that are going to take a process to get to.
And it requires a transformation of our mind. Our mind has to
be changed. Now, I don't want to be lied
to, and I don't want to lie to anybody. I don't want a gospel
that says I'm somewhere that I'm not. I don't want a gospel
that pretends I'm holier than I really am. But I do want a
gospel that has the ability to get me there. Don't you? All
right, I'll open the floor for 10 minutes if we have any questions.
And then we'll actually take up this next week and really
enjoy what we have in Christ. Hands up over here, one over
this side. Could you explain the recovery
plan for fallen believers? I didn't hear you. Could you
explain the recovery plan you had mentioned for fallen believers?
The recovery plan for the fallen believers. Yeah. Um, the, the
beauty of the gospel is not only that, that it brings about a
reconciliation of the center in terms of us being outside
of Christ and the gospel brings us near to God through, through
Jesus Christ and brings us into a relationship with him on the
grounds of the finished work of Christ and then regeneration.
But the beauty of the gospel is, and we're gonna see this
as we unpack 1 John 2, verse one, more particularly, is that
as we are walking, and this is gonna be part of the exegesis
of the text, follow this. As we walk with the Lord as new
believers, we should experience a tenor and pattern of life of
fellowship, growth, and communion with God through a knowledge
of him, But from time to time, we are going to have missteps
and falls. When you are born of God and
you are brought into fellowship with Christ, it's called walking.
Walking is the way of life. That's the walk. I talked to
us about that. The difference between the talk of what we say
and the walk is what we do. So I'm walking with God, right?
But because I am immature in Christ like a little baby that's
learning how to walk, babies are going to inevitably do what?
Fall. Are we not? That's just what
you do as you learn how to walk. Now, the fall is an opportunity
for you and I to learn the resources of grace that are there in the
covenant between family members. How it is that God takes a believer
who is in his journey with Christ but falls due to all kinds of
things that are cultural, things that are personal, things that
are that are wrapped up in his psychology, wrapped up in his
experience, the temptations of life, that's part of your outline,
he or she falls. Now they get to discover how
powerful grace works in recovering them from the fall, picking them
up, cleaning them up, washing them again, and putting them
in a state of confidence to continue walking with God. Am I making
some sense? Do you remember that time when
you fail and you fail in your own eyes? You had fallen many
times before, but in your own eyes, once you fail and you realize
you had broken fellowship with God, how you had to wait for
God to recover you and how that God used certain means to recover
you. And so this is what we're talking
about. So Galatians chapter six, verse one and two says this,
brethren, if you see a brother in a fault, there it is. That's
our same Greek word, Paratoma, which means he failed. If you
see a brother in a transgression, he's going about and he failed.
We could set up a myriad of categories which cause him to fall. That's
not the point. He failed. You who are spiritual do what? Restore him in the spirit of
meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be, what's the
word? Tempted. So what we are talking about
is as believers walk with God, we have trials and we have temptations. We hit pitfalls and we make mistakes. We transgress and we fall. That is the nature of our walk
with God. This is why we are willing to
admit that we are simultaneously righteous and sinful at the same
time. This is why we are willing to
admit that we need the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ
all along this journey, because the blood and righteousness of
Christ is going to be the resource that recovers us to fellowship
with God, clears our conscious of the guilt of past transgressions
and allows us to go on growing in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord. And for true believers, when they come up out of paratumas,
faults and falls, they actually become more humble and more discreet
and much wiser in the things of God than before their fall.
So their falling actually advances their knowledge of the grace
of God and makes them much more productive and fruitful in terms
of being patient and careful with other believers. Am I making
some sense? All right. another question before we shut
it down. Somebody else got another question right here. How are you doing, Pastor? Good.
Good to see you, brother. Last Tuesday was not a very good
day for me. I was very, very angry. I was in the flesh. I was angry. And Tuesday, when you came over
for a Bible study, the house I live in at that particular
time, I didn't like anybody in it. I'm just keeping it real.
And so I separated myself and I did not come and join the Bible
study for that reason. You got different reasons why
I wasn't there, but the main reason is because I was angry.
Now, I'm just wondering, should I have showed up even though
I was in the mood that I was in because I was not the business
that night? Or did I do the right thing by
keeping myself separate? It all depends. It all depends. The Bible is clear that anger
is a temptation that is rooted in certain, uh, sin propensities
that will lead to other sins if we don't deal with that anger
appropriately. So here's what I will say when
something makes you angry. And for some of us, we don't
need nothing to make us angry. We just angry anyway. But if,
if there's something that makes you angry, uh, And that anger
is tempting you to do something like break out in outburst of
profanity, wanting to kick somebody's tail and all that stuff that
goes on with anger. You know how that goes. Then by all means, don't put
yourself in the way of temptation so that you hurt anybody. That's
fundamental. But there are times when anger
can be contained because we have what are called priorities of
choices that we make as mature people. where I can be angry
at an issue and still be in the presence of people because I
have a greater objective to accomplish and therefore because I have
a greater objective to accomplish life. I am starving to hear the
word of God. So I'm coming to church angry
because I want to hear the word of God and I'm going to I'm going
to cap my anger while I hear the word of God because maybe
the word of God might put a fuse in that anger and let that anger
out. then I might be able to deal with that situation more
appropriately I may need to hear from God to deal with the cause
of my anger so those are choices that we have to make whatever
we do we don't want to put ourself in a situation where we actually
act out on that anger and increase our sin did that help very important
you can you and I can you and I can prioritize objectives and
so as to still benefit from what we are seeking to achieve while
struggling through issues. I mean, to be honest with you,
if the only time we're gonna hear the word of God or do something
productive is when there's no problem going on in our life,
we ain't gonna never do what's right. Okay, anybody else got
another question over here? You better ask these questions.
I got five moments, I'm gonna shut it down. No more questions,
right here, right here. And then we'll get you back there
and we'll shut it down. going to the point of somebody
that's fallen, you could... And the prior to falling shows
a lot of signs of somebody who truly has been born again, such
as hunger for the Word, you know, starts reading the Bible, attending
church, fellowship, all these things. But this person falls,
and when he falls, he decides to go into the things of the
world, But when I talk to him, when I ask him, he has no conviction
of what he's doing. So my thoughts were, I said,
look, somebody who's in your situation and is doing what you
want to do, don't you feel a bit convicted in your heart of when
you were doing this or when you're continuing to do this? And the
person says, no, I don't feel any form of conviction or anything. He has fallen classically. He's
falling classically in the sense that objectively what we see
is ostensibly a fall, but for him to be wallowing in and retaining
that course of impenitency towards God is not a fall. That is a
sin. And that's, see, I'm going to
unpack that next week. John, John here says, I am writing
these things unto you in order that you don't adopt a lifestyle
of sin. See what he has done is adopted
a lifestyle of sin. When that is the case, that's
different than a fall. Do you hear me? That's different
than a fall. When a person adopts a lifestyle
of sin because of some offense or some lapse that we would ostensibly
believe has taken place spiritually, they are now in a critical state
of which the warning is you may not be saved. That's the only
thing he needs to hear. Well, that's the thing you need
to hear because if a person says Now watch this now that yeah,
I know what I'm doing is wrong and I ain't feeling nothing about
it What he is admitting is that the Holy Ghost is not present.
I