The first John chapter three. I'm always glad when your pastor
asked me to come and preach. I enjoy being with you. One of
the things that I love about the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's one church. And I'm just as much a part of
this church as I am Todd's Road Grace Church. I mean, we're believers
in it. Isn't that wonderful? That's
very special. I'm thankful for that great privilege. Glad being
with you. First John chapter three. Before I read the text. The way I generally feel about
the way the Lord views me is that he tolerates me. for Christ's sake and that he endures me. You ever feel that way? I know you do, but read this
passage of scripture and I hope the Lord will enable us to enter
in to how he sees us if we're believers and how we really are. I'd like to read the sixth verse
of first John chapter three. I've entitled this message. Believers
do not sin. Let's read this sixth verse together. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him." Now do you hear what verse 6 says? In abiding in Christ, that man
or woman who abides in Christ sinneth not. He does not sin. It does not say his sins are
forgiven, although they are. It does not say his sins are
not imputed to him, although they're not. It says that one
who abides in the Lord Jesus Christ sineth not. Now, what does John mean by sin? The context of this passage tells
us in verse four, whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law,
for sin is the transgression of the law. God's holy law. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. That man who abides in Christ
has had no gods before God. Thou shalt not commit idolatry.
That man who abides in Christ has never been guilty of committing
idolatry. He's never taken God's name in
vain. He's never broken the Sabbath.
He's honored his father and his mother in all God-given authority. He has never killed. He has never
committed sexual sin. He has never stoled. He has never
borne false witness, and he has never coveted. He sinneth not. All these have I kept. from my youth up. That is the
testimony. That's God's testimony of every
believer. Now, how can that be? Because even when I say that,
there's something in me that says, how can that be? Because
the fact of the matter is I do sin. And 1 John chapter 1 verse 8
says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. And verse 10 says, if we say
we've not sinned, and that's talking about any action we do. If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar because he says we have regarding every action
we do. Now that's God's testimony. Yet
it also says if we abide in him, We don't see him. Look in verse five, how can this
be? And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sin. You remember, On the great day
of atonement, when the high priest put his hands on the head of
that scapegoat, and it was led by a fit man into the wilderness,
into a land not inhabited, signifying the taking away of sins. But
did it take away sins? No. But did he? He was manifested to take away
our sins. And that's exactly what He did
on the cross. He took away our sins. They're no more. They're gone. They're blotted out. And in Him
is no sin. That means that if I'm in Him,
I have no sin. Abiding in him means that I in
my person do not sin. Look at this description of the
believer in Psalm 119. Hold your finger there and look
in Psalm 119. This passage of scripture used to bother me a
lot before I understood it. Verse one, blessed are the undefiled
in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they
that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole
heart. They also do no iniquity. They walk in His ways. Now, this is a description of
every believer. Do you hear that? They do no
iniquity. When God looks at every believer,
He sees someone who is worthy of fellowship and communion with
Him. They do no iniquity. Now, my conscience tells me that
all I do is sin. I can't get away from that, even
while I'm saying this. But the word of God tells that
one who abides in Christ, they don't see it. Let's go on reading. Verse six. Whosoever abideth
in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth, 1 John 3,
verse six, hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children,
let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that
he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin. For his seed, the seed of God,
remaineth in him. He cannot sin. He lacks the ability
to sin because he is born of God. Can that which is born of
God sin? Absolutely not. Now, what I want us to consider
is what is this thing of abiding in Christ? He says, whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not. So the only way that you and
I can enter into this is if we abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. So what does it mean to abide
in Christ? Now this word abide, whoso abideth
in him, sinneth not. It's translated by six other
words in the New Testament. Continue, whoever continues in
him, whoever dwells in him, whoever endures in him, whoever remains
in him, Whoever stands in him, whoever tarries in him. You only tarry in a place where
you like being. You tarry around because you like being there,
don't you? You don't want to leave. Whoso tarries in him sins not. Now, here's the first thing that
I'd like to consider in this verse of scripture. In Christ, whosoever abideth in him. Sineth not. Now this is the biggest
thing in the Bible. In Christ. Biggest thing in the
Bible. And I know that every time I
try to deal with this I feel a measure of frustration and
a sense of failure because I know that I can't say what ought to
be said about this thing of being in Christ. But you think of the
baptism of our Lord. You remember that voice that
came from heaven This is my beloved son. This is the son of my love
in whom I am well pleased. If I'm in him, God is well pleased
with me. He doesn't endure me. He doesn't
tolerate me. He doesn't put up with me. He
is well pleased. In Colossians chapter two, verses
nine and 10, we read in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
in a body and you are complete. Nothing like it. All that God
requires you have. You don't have just the minimum,
you've got the maximum. You've got everything in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You are complete in Him. It please the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. All the promises of God in Him
are what? Yea and amen. There's nothing
you need to do in order to make them come to pass. They're all
yay. They're all amen. No conditions
you must first meet. They're all yay and amen. All of God's love is in Christ
Jesus. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. All of God's purpose is in Christ. We read in Ephesians chapter
3 verse 11, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. All spiritual blessings are in
Christ. Ephesians 1, 3 says, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now, is it any
wonder that Paul the apostle said, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in This is all I want. This is all
I desire. As God is my witness, this is
all I want. That when God the Father looks
at me, all He sees is His Son. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Now, if I'm in Christ, I've always
been in Christ. There was never a time when I
was not in Christ. I'm eternally united to him. Now, what does it mean to be
in Christ? Well, the scripture gives us
a lot of examples of what it means to be in Christ, but I
want to bring three that tie together, that are a blessing
to me to think about. First example is Hebrews chapter
seven. I use this all the time. Hebrews
chapter seven, verses nine and 10, where it says, Abraham paid
tithes, Levi paid tithes. Now Levi wasn't born, but it
doesn't say it's as if he paid tithes, it said he paid those
tithes because he paid them in the loins of his father, Abraham.
When Abraham paid tithes, Levi paid tithes. And here's another
scripture that illustrates union. By one man, sin entered the world. and death by sin. This is talking
about Adam's transgression. And we're united to him. What
he did, we did. For by one man, sin entered the world. And death
by sin. So death passed upon all men in that all sinned. Now do you hear what that says?
It doesn't say his sin was charged us. It says when he sinned, we
sinned. I personally sinned when Adam
sinned because I'm united to him. What he did, I did. Now
here's The crowning verse to me, turn to Matthew chapter three. This is the Lord's baptism. I
read this this week and it was just thrilling to me. Verse 13, then come with Jesus
from Galilee to Jordan and to John to be baptized of him. Now
put yourself in John's place. What if the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I want you to baptize me? Would you feel unqualified? But John forbade him saying,
I need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me? And Jesus
answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh. What's the next word? Us. to fulfill all righteousness. Everything he did, he did as
an us. He says to poor old Todd Nyberg,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. What is this thing of abiding
in Christ? Now, I've always been in him if I'm in him, but there's
something conscious about this. There's something, there's something
I'm conscious of. If I'm abiding in the Lord, Jesus
Christ, what is this thing of abiding in Christ? It's active. It's not passive. It's active.
It's something I'm doing dwelling, enduring, remaining, standing,
tearing in Christ. Now listen real carefully abiding
in Christ. is a conscious desire to not
be anywhere else. There's no other place you want
to be. And you determine in your heart you do not want to be anywhere
else because there's nothing else that can compare with being
in Him. Now, not too long ago 45 minutes
ago, half an hour ago, you walked into this room. You left the
place and you walked into this room. Now, what if in this room
you're sitting in right now, everything you could possibly
want was found in this room? Comfort, security, pleasure,
safety, good food, great friends, a great encouraging atmosphere,
complete satisfaction, beauty, no sin, no wrongdoing, absolute
justice, pure mercy, a place where your highest goals are
realized. And nothing like that is outside
of this room. In this room, there's peace,
there's joy, there's safety, there's no tears, there's no
pain. And outside of this room, there's nothing like that. There's
nothing. Would you ever want to leave
this room? If everything you wanted was
in this room and nothing you wanted was outside of this room,
nothing, would you ever want to leave this room? No. You'd say, I want to stay here.
I don't want to be anywhere else. You would continue in this room. You dwell in this room. You would
endure in this room. You'd remain in this room. You'd
stand in this room. You'd tarry in this room. I think
of what the Lord said to his disciples when he's watching
the 5,000 leave. He said, you fellas want to leave too? There's
the door. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Truly, we
don't want to be anywhere else. Now, when I abide in Christ,
that means the only place I want to be. When God comes looking
for me, there's only one place I want to be. That's in His Son. So all that he sees is his son. Thus it becometh us, that his
righteousness, I'm an us in that. I'm one of those us's. That his
righteousness is actually mine. Now, whosoever abideth in him
sinneth not, because in him is no sin. You, are looking at a man who has
no sin. I'm looking at some men and women
who have no sin. This is what the Bible calls
justification. You know what justification is? It means you don't have any sin.
It means you don't have anything to feel guilty about. It means
you stand perfect before God. It means when he looks at you,
he sees you as holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. That poor old publican beaten
on his breast. God be merciful to me, the sinner. He felt his sin. He was conscious
of his sin. There's no question about that.
But what did the Lord say about him? He said, I say to you, that
man went down to his house. What? Justified. Not forgiven, although he was,
but justified. He had no sin. Would you turn to 1 John chapter
2? Go back to 1 John. Now remember, this thing of abiding
in Christ is a conscious desire to not be anywhere else. All
God sees me is as He sees me in His Son. In 1 John chapter
2, verse 28, we read, abide in him, that when he shall
appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him
and his coming. Now, this is something I have
such a hard time getting a hold of. I think of the Lord looking
at me and I feel like I have to look down. But abiding in him, I have absolutely
nothing to be ashamed of. Put my life up on a screen. That's
a scary thought, isn't it? No, it's not. All you're going
to see is perfection. Abiding in Him, I have no sin. His life is my life before God. His righteousness is my righteousness
before God. I have no sin. As He is, so are we in this world. He has no sin, I have no sin. He's perfectly righteous, I'm
perfectly righteous. Now this is how real this thing
of union with Christ is. Whatever He is, every believer
is. Everything He did, He did as
an us. I've quoted this, turn over to
1 John chapter four, verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness, confidence in the day of judgment. Now can
you imagine that? Having confidence, no fear. God
looking at me, judging me. I have nothing to be afraid of,
nothing to be ashamed of, knowing I'm going to be accepted because
as He is. So are we in this world right
now. Ephesians 1 12 says in whom we
have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Now, I'm not going to be ashamed
for one reason. I have nothing to be ashamed
of. You believe that? You believe
the salvation that's in Christ is so complete that you'll stand
before God with nothing to be ashamed of." Isn't that wonderful? Abiding in Christ enables us
to have this confidence toward Judgment Day. Turn to 1 John
chapter 2, you're right there. Look at verse 27. 1 John chapter
2, verse 27. which you've received of him
abideth in you. And you need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you
shall abide in him." Now, this is the anointing of God, the
Holy Spirit. You've been anointed by God,
the Holy Spirit, when you say, oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him. I don't want to have it. What
is the anointing? You know, people think, what happens when you're
anointed by the Holy Spirit? Well, here's what happens. You say, oh, let me be found
in Christ. Let me be nowhere else. You see, we will be seduced away
from this. Look in verse 26. These things
have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. try to draw you away from this
thing of simply abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hold your finger there and turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul says in verse 3, But I fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity The singleness,
the onlyness, the wholeness that's in Christ. That means that if
I'm in him, all God sees is him. He is all in salvation. That's the unction of the Holy
One. Look in verse John 3, 24. And
he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him. That's the same
word abideth in him and he in him. And hereby we know that
he abided in us by the spirit, which he had given us is that
man who keeps the commandments of Christ that abides in him.
And we don't have to speculate as to what he meant by keeping
his commandments. Look up in verse 23 of the same chapter.
And this is his commandment that we should believe on the name
of his son, Jesus Christ. and love one another as he gave
us commandment. Now I really do believe on the
name of his son. I believe his name is my name
before God. I believe for his namesake, I'm
going to be brought into glory. I really do. I'm relying on his
name. You know what? I love people
who love him. I really do. I love anybody who
loves the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm, I'm their fan. Turn to John 6. John 6. Verse 53. Then Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in
you. Now, when the Lord said this,
it was a couple of years before the Lord's table. This has nothing
to do with eating the bread and drinking the wine and it representing
the Lord's table. That had not yet been instituted
when he made this statement. And the Lord is not referring
to cannibalism. I'm sure of that. When the Lord is speaking of
his flesh and his blood, he's talking about his life and his
death. When you eat something, it's
in you. It becomes part of you and it's
what you live on. And every believer lives off
his life and off his death. That's all I can live on. I can't live on, you give me
anything else, I can't live on it. I can't, I live off his life
and his death. Verse 54, whoso eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I'll raise him up at
the last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me. That's the same word, abideth
in me and I in him. Turn to John 15. Verse four, abide in me and I
in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except
you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. You abide in the Lord Jesus Christ,
you will bring forth much fruit. Now you try to bear fruit, won't
work. You try to make it grow or make it come out, won't work.
You abide in Christ and you will bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
love, joy, peace. gentleness, long-suffering, gentleness,
faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.
You abide in Christ. You'll bear the fruit of the
Holy Spirit. And look in verse six and seven, if a man abide
not in me, he's cast forth, cast forth as a branch and is withered.
Men gather them and cast them into the fire and they're burned.
If you abide in me and my words abide in you. Now, if you abide
in him, here's what's going to happen. His words will abide
in you. You shall ask what you will and it shall be done to
you. Abiding in Christ, we have the very ear of God. That's his promise. Now I want to conclude this message
with an if and an ought. Look once again in verse seven,
if John 15 verse seven, if you abide in me, And my words abide
in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto
you. If is a condition. If you abide in me. Now, when
those Israelites were in the house with the blood over the
door, what happened if they stayed in the house? They were secure. What happened if they went outside
of the house? They were destroyed. Only if you stayed in the house
with the blood over the door, were you secure. If there's a condition and we
must abide in him and do whatever it takes to abide in him, whatever
that means. I don't even know what it means
except to say, Lord, I just want to be found in Christ at all
times. I don't know how to go about this. Lord, let me be found
in Christ. Some seem to begin in him, but
they don't continue. They went out from us, but they
were not all of us. For if they had been of us, they would no
doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. Our Lord said,
if you continue, abide in my word, then are you my disciples. Indeed, 2 John 2, 9 says, who
so transgresses and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. There is an abiding. There is
an abiding. Now, would you turn back to 1st
John chapter 2? Here's the ought. An if and an ought. Verse 6. He that saith, he abideth in
him. Ought himself. Also, so to walk
even as he walked. Now you take that as far as you
can. How did he walk? In complete reliance, in obedience, in submission. In humility. And this is something that I've
been thinking about quite often. If the Lord washed your feet,
would you count it as an act of condescension on his part
to do that? Sure you would. But he didn't. He didn't. He said, I'm me. and lowly in heart, and you'll
find rest for your souls. How did he walk in love, in zeal,
in the light of the gospel, in faithfulness? If we abide in
him, we ought also to walk even as he walked. Whoso abideth in him sinneth If I abide in Him, I don't sin. When He shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand. before the throne. On Christ,
the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Let's pray.