Would you turn back to 1 John
chapter 3? I put in the bulletin, our conference
is coming up in December. And there's a lot of expenses
involved in that, so give as you can toward that. It does
cost several thousand dollars to put that thing on. And also,
there's a need in St. Croix. The hurricane came through
there and did some damage to that building. We want to help
in every way we can. And tonight, I'm going to be
speaking on this subject, speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues. Now I've entitled the message
for this morning, The Man That Sinneth Not. The Man That Sinneth Not. And I said back in the back,
nobody's going to understand this passage unless the unless
God the Holy Spirit is our teacher. And somebody said, well, isn't
that true concerning every verse of scripture we read? And that's
the truth. There is no understanding of anything in the Bible apart
from the teaching of God, the Holy Spirit. And oh, that he
might teach us regarding this man that sinneth not. Let's read this scripture again.
First, John chapter three, verses four through six. whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Now listen to the words of this
scripture. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth
not. It does not say that the one
abiding in Christ has his sin forgiven, though he does. It does not say the one abiding
in Christ doesn't have his sin imputed to him or charged to
his account. It says that one who abides in
Christ sinneth not. The tense of the verb, and this
means something, language means something. In the original, the
tense of the verb is in the present active tense. That means right
now, in the present, That one who abides in Christ does not
sin. It couldn't mean that. About everybody I've read and
listened to on this passage of scripture says that what that
means is Sin is not the bent and tenor of that individual's
life. The language won't allow that. The language of this verse of
Scripture will not allow that. If that's the way you handle
it, you forced your interpretation on that passage of Scripture
because you really don't understand what it means. It couldn't mean
that he doesn't sin. We know it doesn't mean that.
It must mean sin is not the bent and tenor of his life. Well,
for one thing, that's not what it says. And for another thing, are you
going to tell me that sin is not the bent and tenor of your
life? If you sin, I wouldn't make that claim for
myself. I'd be afraid to make that. Sin's not the bent and
tenor of my life. that's forcing it to say what
it doesn't, to try and fit it to my understanding. Look at
the rest of this verse, verse six, whosoever abideth in him
sinneth not, whosoever sinneth, that's not saying sin's the tenor
and practice of your life, it's talking about sinning, right
now, present tense. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Now what in the world does that
mean? If you abide in him, you don't
sin. If you sin, you've never seen
him and you've never known him. And look back up in verse four, whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law. And that sets up what he said. What does he mean by not sinning?
Well, it means the bit and tenor of your, no, it means if you
break God's law in any way, you're committing sin. This is how he
is identifying sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Whosoever commit a sin, transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law." Whose
law? God's law. God's law. I've heard people say, well,
as long as I'm not hurting anybody, I don't see where there's that
Harm in sin, well, for one thing, that's very debatable as to whether
or not you're hurting anybody. You may say you're not, but you
are. But that's not the point. Sin's against God. It doesn't
matter whether you hurt anybody or not. Sin is against God, transgressing
God's law. He's the one you answer to. Somebody
says, well, my sin doesn't hurt anybody. It's against God. That's
what the problem is with sin. If there were no God, who's to
say that there's such a thing as sin? But if God is, sin is. And sin is the transgression
of His law. His law, the Ten Commandments. You ever put anything before
God? That ought to be an easy question
to answer. You ever put anything before
God? What about the sin of idolatry, the Second Commandment? making
a God that you feel comfortable with because you don't like the
way God reveals himself in his word, and you've made your God
that could fit in with your agenda. The third commandment, not taking
his name in vain. I hope every one of us will never
again say, Lord, conversationally. That's taking his name, O Lord,
O God. I hate it when people say that's
taking his name conversationally, but there's a reverence due his
holy name. He's God. Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy. You know, people love to post
up the Ten Commandments in public places and it shows up. What
about the Sabbath? The scripture says if you break
the Sabbath, you're to be stoned. If you're going to keep, stay
consistent with it. The commandment regarding honoring your father
and mother, showing proper respect to all God-placed authority. Thou shalt not kill. You're not
to take anybody's life. You're not to gossip. You're
not to murder somebody's character by what you say about them. The
commandment against adultery, all sexual sin is sin in God's
sight. Really? Really. really. The commandment regarding not
stealing, not taking what doesn't belong to you. The commandment
regarding telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth, not bearing false witness. The commandment regarding
coveting, being content with what you have. Now, sin is the
transgression of the law. And the reason sin is so bad
is because it's against God. Anytime I sin, I am demonstrating
a contempt for the lawgiver. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Listen to these scriptures that
define sin. 1 John 5, 17 says all unrighteousness,
all unrighteousness is sin. Romans 3, 22, 23, there's no
difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. To come short of the glory of God is sin in God's sight. James 4, verse 17, to him that
knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it's sin. To know what you should do and
not do it, it's sin. James, or Proverbs chapter four,
verse 27, chapter 24, verse seven, the thought of foolishness is
sin. James chapter two, verse nine,
if you have respective persons, you commit sin. Now I know somebody
I have a great respective person for, me. I always give myself
a different standard than everybody else. I mean, I can do it, but
if you do it, it's wrong. That's sin. That's sin. That's sin in God's sight, to
have respective persons. Romans chapter 14 verse 23 says,
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Whatever doesn't come from
faith in Christ, doesn't matter what it is, it's sin. I love this scripture. Proverbs
21.4, A high look, a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked
is sin. Now our text says sin is the
transgression of the law. And regarding this thing of the
law, James tells us, to keep all the commandments, but one is to break them all. And with
regard to the Ten Commandments, you either keep the whole law
or you haven't kept one commandment one time. That's the only thing
God's law recognizes. Now the reason men have such
superficial views of sin is because they have such superficial views
of God and such low views of God. Now if you want to know
how God views sin, look at the cross. When His Son is nailed
to that cross, it was because he had him put there, because
he bore sin, and God forsakes sin. When he said, my God, my
God, why have you forsaken me? There's one reason, God forsakes,
because of sin. He had made him to be sin. The wages of sin is death. So when John is speaking of someone
not sinning, Whoso abideth in him sinneth
not. When John is speaking in the context of this passage of
scripture, when John is speaking of somebody not sinning, he's
talking about somebody who does not break God's holy law. Look in verse 5 of 1 John chapter
3. Whosoever committed sin transgresses
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And
you know, you know, I love the you knows of the scripture. When the scripture says, you
know, every believer says, yeah, we do know that. We do know that. You know it because God has been
your teacher. You know intuitively because you have another spirit,
a new nature that knows. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins and in him is no sin. And that word take away. You
know that he was manifested to take away our sins. That same word is translated
remove, to remove them, to take them off of us, to put them away. Hebrews 9 says, now once in the
end of the world, have he appeared to put away sin. by the sacrifice
of himself. Now, I want us to remember this
about the gospel. Paul defines the gospel as how
that, listen real carefully, how that Christ died for our
sins, according to the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures. So you can't understand the death
of Christ, what He was doing on Calvary's tree, apart from
the Old Testament Scriptures. Turn to Leviticus chapter 16
for a moment. Hold your finger there in John
and turn to Leviticus 16. Now this is how Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures.
This is talking about the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement, verse
20. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place
and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, he shall bring
the live goat, the scapegoat that was not put to death. And
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat
and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of
Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat and shall send him away by the hand
of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities. Unto a land
not inhabited, and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness. Now this live goat typified what
actually took place on the cross. My sin was removed from me and
he was made to bear it on Calvary's tree. The moment he died, complete
satisfaction was made before God and my sin was made to not
be. Now, do you hear that? The moment
he died, complete satisfaction was made to God, and my sin was
made to not be. Everybody for whom he died is
declared by God, according to Colossians 1, 22, to be holy,
and unblameable, and unreprovable, in His sight. Now, is that speaking
in metaphor? Is that speaking in type? Or
is that real? I am holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in the very sight of God. Now that's what Christ
accomplished on Calvary's tree. My sin was removed from me. He
bore it and he put it away. He was manifested to take away,
to remove. to cause to not be our sins. I love that passage of scripture
in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 when it says when he had by himself. It doesn't say he when he had
purged our sins. It says when he had by himself
purged our sins. You know what that means? I didn't
have anything to do with this. It's not with my tears and with
my remorse and with my promises to do better and my promises
of reformation. And no, he by himself. By himself. With no contributions
at all from me or you. When he had by himself purged
our sins, put our sins away, he sat down at the right hand
of God. Now look what it says in verse
5, and you know that He was manifested to take away our sins. And look
at this next phrase, and in Him, in Him is no sin. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. He took them away, removed, and
blotted them out. Now listen to this statement.
In him is no sin. Now it's true that in him there's
no sin, no moral defilement. He never sinned. You want to
find a place where there's no sin, it's in him. But that's
really not what it's talking about. Because there was a time
when in him there was sin. When he drank the contents of
that cup. And the scripture says who his own self bear our sins
in his own body. on the tree. For that time on
Calvary's tree, in him was sin. But what did he do with that
sin? He purged it. He put it away. He blotted it
out. He made it not to be so that
in him is no sin. I love that scripture in Hebrews
9. And for them that look for him, shall he appear the second
time without sin unto salvation? And the reason he's going to
appear without sin is that sin has been put away. It's gone. It's non-existent. In Him is
no sin. And if I am in Him, I have no
sin. Right now. Present tense. If I'm in Him, I have no sin. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy sin and thy iniquities I will remember no more. Now,
isn't that glorious? in him is no sin. Verse six, whosoever abideth
in him sinneth not. Now let me say before I go on
trying to give the explanation of this passage of scripture,
this is only realized by faith and not by sight. Hope that's seen, Paul says in
Romans 8, 24, is not hope. For what a man seeth, why does
he yet hope for it? I don't see in my experience
that I do not sin. I don't see that in my experience.
That doesn't take away from the reality of it. It's known by
faith. For what a man seeth, why does
he yet hope for it? I can't look at myself and say,
yes, you're somebody that doesn't sin, But it clearly says, if
I abide in him, I do not sin. If I sin, I've neither seen him
nor known him. Now, what does it mean to abide
in him? That's of critical importance. We can't understand this passage
of scripture unless we understand what it means to abide in him.
He that abideth in him, sinneth not. He that sinneth, he's neither
seen him nor know Him. What does it mean to abide in
Him? Well, what's it mean by in Him? Now listen real carefully. This is very simple. In Him is
a location, isn't it? In Him is a location. If you were in the ark, there's
a place you were. Outside of the ark, there was
the wrath of God. In the ark, there was perfect
safety in that location. There was a location. You had
to be. When God passed through the land
of Egypt and judged the firstborn, where was that location you had
to be to be exempt from that judgment? In the house with the
blood over the door. Let me show you how clear this
is in the Old Testament Scriptures. Turn with me for a moment to
Numbers 35. This is talking about the cities
of refuge. Now you remember God provided
the cities of refuge in the Old Testament for the children of
Israel if they murdered someone accidentally. There was an avenger
of blood who had the right to kill you. If you murdered one
of my family members, I'm gonna kill you. Well, it was an accident.
I'm still gonna kill you. I'm the Avenger of Blood. But
God provided six cities of refuge that you could go in and find
safety, and the Avenger of Blood could not touch you if you were
in that city of refuge. Now look in Numbers 35, beginning
in verse 26. But if the slayer, shall at any time come without
the border of the city of his refuge, whether he was fled,
and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the
city of his refuge. He had to stay in the city. If
he went outside of the city, the revenger of blood killed
the slayer and he shall not be guilty of blood. He had the perfect
right to do it because he should have remained in the city of
his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the
death of the high priest, the slayer shall return to the land
of his possession. But the one thing you had to do was stay
in the city that God had provided. If you went outside of the city,
the avenger of blood could kill you, and you'd have nobody to
blame but yourself. Now, in Christ is a big place. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and all of God's salvation is in Him. In the city of refuge. Whoso
abideth in Him sinneth not. What does it mean to abide in
the Lord Jesus Christ? Listen to this. If I'm in Christ,
I've always been in Christ. I want you to understand this.
I don't want you to understand it. I want you to believe it.
You can't understand it. I realize that. But I want you to believe
this. If I'm in Christ, Scripture says, according as he has chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world. Now, if I'm in
Christ, I've always been in Christ. Do you know there was a time
when I didn't know Christ, when I was not a believer, when I was not
saved in my experience? Do you know I was in Christ then? Before I was saved, in my experience,
I was in Christ. I was in Christ before I was
born. Before I formed thee in the belly. I knew thee." That's what God
said. Behold, I've loved you with an everlasting love. I was
in Christ before September 9th, 1959. I was in Christ before
the creation. You know what that means? There's never been a time when
I was not in Christ. What security there is there.
There's never been a time when I was not in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if I've always been in Christ,
what is this thing of abiding in Christ? Whoso abideth in Christ,
sinneth not. What is this thing of abiding
in Christ? Well, this word abiding, It's translated by five other
words in the New Testament, which will give us some idea of what
it means. It's translated to dwell. You know, there's only one place
I'm at home, my home. I can go anywhere I want. I can
do what I want. I feel comfortable. I don't feel
like I'm intruding. I don't feel like I'm doing something wrong.
There's only one place I'm really comfortable. It's in my house.
I have the right to open any drawer, look in any closet, open
the medicine cabinet, see what's in there. You know what you do
when you're going to other people's? I don't do that. I read, I never
will forget, I read one time somebody filled his medicine
cabinet with marbles and he was having somebody over and they
opened the cabinet and all the marbles came down on the floor. The point is, I have liberty
in my house. I'm not uncomfortable. It's the
only place I really feel totally comfortable is in my house. It's
our dwelling place. It's translated enduring. If
you endure, that means you don't stop abiding. You continue to
abide. It's translated remain. You remain. You don't leave.
It's translated standing. This is your standing. It's translated
tarrying. Oh, when you enjoy some place,
you tarry around. You don't want to leave. You're
so comfortable there. You love being there. Now that's
what it is to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only place
you want to be is Him. To abide in Christ is to consciously
and intelligently not want to be anywhere else. It means from
the very depths of your heart, when you think of God looking
upon you, there's only one way you want him to see looking at
you, and that's in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that all he sees is
Christ. Now, what do you think of this
thing of abiding in Christ? I don't want to do anything else,
do you? Paul said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in him. That's the only place I want
to be found is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoso abideth in him
sinneth not. Now remember in Christ is a location.
It's a place. Some 45 minutes or an hour ago
you walked into this room. What if walking into this room
you found nothing but perfection. You walk into this room, you're
perfect and you're sinless. You walk into this room and there's
nothing but comfort, security, pleasure, great friends, good
food, perfect peace, perfect contentment, perfect satisfaction,
perfect beauty, a place where boredom was impossible. And each
moment would get better than the next. Now, if you were in
a room like that, and outside of that room was nothing but
anguish, pain, wrath, and tribulation, would you ever want to leave
this room? No. You'd want to stay right
here. It's the only place you would
want to be. Now, that's what it means to
abide in Christ. Lord, I don't want to be seen
anywhere but in thy dear son, where I'm perfect, where I'm
without sin, where I'm sinless, where there's nothing but pleasure
and satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, whosoever
abides in him sins not because in him is no sin. If you're justified,
you know what that means? That means you don't sin. That
means you never have sin, you're not sinning now, and you never
will sin. That's what justification is.
Perfect in Christ Jesus. Turn to 1 John chapter 2, just
to cross the page. Verse 28, and now little children abide
in him. Abide in Him. Stay right there.
Don't be anywhere else. That when He shall appear, we
may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him and His coming.
Now, let me say this. The only way I'm going to have
confidence and not be ashamed before Him and His coming is
if I have no sin. None at all. Nothing to be ashamed
of. I can't tell you how I loathe
that preaching and teaching that says that believers in some way
are going to have to give an account for their sins on judgment
day, and that they're going to be rewarded a higher or a lower
place in heaven according to their personal obedience here
on earth. That's a complete denial of the gospel message. Do you
understand that? That's a complete denial. In
Christ, I have no sin for which to be judged. I'm perfect and
righteous. You sin not. And understand,
this is not a legal state before the law, but you still sin. You
sin not. Look in verse 9 of chapter 3. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin as a general practice and the rule and tenor of his
life. Doesn't say that at all, does it? That which is born of
God is holy. Holiness cannot sin. Holiness lacks the ability to
sin. This is talking about the new
nature, that which is born of God. Look what it says. Verse
nine. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin for his seed. The seed of God remaineth in
him and he cannot sin. Because he's born of God. Now, this is talking about the
new man, that which is born of God, the seed of God that cannot
sin. But what about the sin you commit?
I mean, it sounds great. Pine in the sky, dead in sin.
And I see that in the scripture, but I still sin as far as my
person goes. Where does that fit in? Romans
chapter six. Would you turn with me there? Verse 11. Likewise, Reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin. Now that sin I've committed this
morning while I was looking over my notes trying to get my heart
prepared to preach the gospel and having all kinds of horrible,
wicked thoughts pass through, that sin was crucified on Calvary
Street. and I'm to reckon it to be dead." Indeed. That sin was crucified. That man was crucified. And he's
a dead man. What's the law have to say to
a dead man? Nothing. Nothing. Reckon yourselves to
be dead indeed to sin. And in this same book, turn back
to 1 John. Look at these statements. 1 John chapter 1. Now remember, that man who abides
in Christ sinneth not. But in this same book, look what
he says in verse 8. If we say we have no sin, and there the word is a noun,
it's talking about a sinful nature. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. A man who claims, I have no sinful
nature, that man has deceived himself and he's lost all credibility.
The truth is not in him, he's a liar, he's a hypocrite, he's
a phony. Someone who makes that claim. Look in verse 10. If we
say we've not sinned, and that's talking, that word is a verb,
regarding anything I do. If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar. He says we have, we make him
a liar. And his word is not in us. At no time can I say I'm
without a sinful nature. And there's nothing I've ever
done of which I could say I didn't sin, and yet I can say in Christ
I have no sin, and in Christ I do not sin. And the new man
sinneth not. Look in chapter two, verse one. My little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not. What's God's will for my life?
That I don't sin. What should I do? Sin not. Make it your resolve. I'm saying
this to everybody in this room, beginning right here. Make it
your resolve to never sin again, to be holy, unblameable, and
unreprovable in his sight. He said, these things I write
unto you that you sin not. Now when you do, we have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous,
he was the advocate before the sin, he was the advocate during
the sin, and he's the advocate after the sin. And look in verse
six of chapter two. He that saith he abideth in him,
here's what he ought to do. I'm saying I abide in Christ.
I don't want to be found anywhere but in him. I want God to only
see me in him and see me in no other way. He that saith he abideth
in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked." That
one who says, I abide in him, what ought you to do? You ought
to be just like Christ. You ought to walk even as he
walked. Chapter 3, verse 1, What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of
God? Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Now if you're a real son of God,
the world's not going to recognize you. You, a son of God? Why,
that's foolishness. You don't look much like a son
of God to me. The world doesn't know what a son of God is, and
it's not going to recognize you. Therefore the world knows it's
not because it knew him not. Beloved now are we the sons of
God with all of the privileges of sonship and it does not yet
appear what we shall be. Now he's talking about when Christ
comes and we're finally completely delivered from sin. and were
perfectly conformed to his image. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be." We don't know what that's gonna be like. And I love
the way John says this. He's saying, he's the beloved
disciple. He's the one who laid his head
upon Jesus' breast. He's the one who seemed to have
more of an intimate relationship with the Lord as a man than any
other man. And he's writing under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit right now, writing scripture, totally inspired
without error, And yet he says regarding this thing of being
sinless, we have no idea what it means. We can't even imagine. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him. as He is. And that one look will
make me experience what I believe. I'm sinless. I don't commit sin. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus. I can't see that. I believe it. And when I say it, I realize
I don't even know what I'm talking about. Just like John did, and
it does not yet appear what we shall be. But here's what I'm
waiting for. Perfect likeness to the Lord
Jesus Christ that I will experience when I put down this body that
was crucified on the cross. This body of sin is one day going
to be laid in a grave and I'll have no sin no longer without
sin. Now somebody may listen to this
message and say there's so many contradictions in that. You say
you don't sin, you say you keep God's law, and yet you say all
you do is sin. That's contradictory. Well, the
only reason that's contradictory to you is because you never remember
being born again. That's it. Because if you've been born above
and if you have two natures, you know that's so concerning
you. You don't have to be convinced. You know it's true. And if somebody says, that's
nothing but a contradiction, what's because you don't have
ears to hear? Ask the Lord to give you ears to hear the gospel. And you'll find that this is
true. It's true. I don't sin. That's me. You know, when my name is brought
up before God on judgment day, I'm going to be somebody who
has never sinned. Nothing to worry about. Perfect
in Christ Jesus. And it's true. At no time can
I say, in my experience, I have no sin or I didn't sin. Both are true. Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would take your word and by your spirit, cause it
to be effectual in our hearts. Lord, how we thank you that in
him is no sin and abiding in him we sin not because there
is no sin. Lord, teach us what it is to
abide in him and how we thank you for the glorious truth that
in him is no sin and if we're in him, we have no sin. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.