Would you turn back to 1 John? I'm sure you would agree with
me when I say that it's very difficult to get to the truth,
to the heart of a person or an action, to know what's really
going on. I can make a judgment about you,
and I can make a judgment about what you do, but I don't have
the proper information to make that judgment, do I? Not really. I don't know what's going on.
I don't know what you're going through. It's difficult to get
to the truth because there are so many layers of covering that
prevent us from seeing the reality. of a thing. Who is that person,
really? What makes them tick? Why did
they do what they did? What was their motive? What was
their purpose? I repeat, it's very difficult
to get to the truth regarding almost anything and everything,
isn't it? Life is complex, to say the least. But I'm so thankful for the Word
of God. We have the truth uncovered. We have the truth revealed. We cannot know that if he doesn't
reveal himself and make himself known, if he doesn't uncover
himself to us. I think of that scripture where
it says he covereth himself with light as with a garment. That's
an amazing concept if you think about it. He takes light, the
brightness of light, and puts it around himself, and it's covering. And you and I cannot see him
or know him unless he's pleased to uncover himself. I have entitled this message,
The Uncovering. The Uncovering. There is a word
in the New Testament that is translated both appear and manifest,
and some form of that word is found some 78 times in the New
Testament. It means to make clear, to make
visible. to make manifest, to make known,
to uncover, to lay bare, to reveal. And I can't know the Lord unless
he does all of those things for me. Unless he uncovers himself. to me, unless he makes himself
known and reveal himself to me." John uses this word in this first
epistle of John nine times. That is what I want us to confine
ourselves to. Like I said, it is found throughout
the New Testament. Paul used the word a lot. But
I want us to see how John uses the word, and it is my prayer
that an uncovering will take place tonight, that we might
have from the Lord a disclosure, an uncovering of himself and
his gospel. Wouldn't that be a blessing if
the Lord uncovered himself and made himself known to us? Why does there need to be an
uncovering in the first place? That's easy to answer, because
we have a covering over our souls called sin that prevents us from
seeing. And we're completely dependent
upon him to reveal himself to us. And it is my prayer that
that is what is going to take place. Now, let's turn to 1 John
1. I'd like to read verses 1 and
2. That which was from the beginning, he's always I am that I am. Which we have heard which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our
hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested."
There's the word. The life. Not life. Not a life. But the life was
manifested, uncovered, revealed, made known, and we have seen
and bear witness and shown to you that eternal life which was
with the Father and was manifested, made known unto us. He is, speaking of the Lord Jesus,
the life. Life is essential. Life, in its essence, he is independent
in his life. And I'd love to think about this.
I want you to think about how dependent you and I are. We're dependent
upon the Lord for our next breath. We're dependent upon the Lord
for all things. He is dependent on nothing and
no one. He's completely independent. His life is independent in himself. He is infinite. He is eternal.
He never had a beginning. He's immutable. He never changes,
so he's obviously perfect. He is the life. He's the source of life. He's
the source of plant life. it's alive, it's because he caused
it to be alive. He's the source of animal life.
Every animal, bird, I don't care what we're talking about, remember
the scripture says, not a sparrow falls to the ground without your
heavenly Father. He's the source of all animal
life, he's the source of human life, most especially He is the
source of spiritual life. If you and I have spiritual life,
it's because he first us. It's because he gave us this
life. He's the life. He is life. He's the source of life. But
here's what I like to think about most. He is the life. What do I mean by that? Or what
does the Bible mean by that? His life is my life before God. And that's where my confidence
comes from. That's why I can come boldly
into his presence. Because his life is my life before
God. That's my life. It's not my preaching,
it's not my reading, it's not the things I do, it's not the
things I don't do, it's his life. That is my life before God. He
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. Hold your finger there and turn
to Colossians chapter 3. Now, this has to be uncovered,
and when it's uncovered, what a joy it is to know that his
His perfect obedience, his law-keeping, his life. People, I hate this
phrase, you've heard it, Jesus is alive and well. No, he's not
alive and well, he's life. Anything sort of that is blasphemous. He is life. His life is the only
life before God. His life is my life before God. Now, look at this passage in
Colossians chapter 3. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. That passage from James 4, if
our affection set on things above, it would cause us to Not pray,
Miss, would it, if our affections were set on things above? He
says, for you dare, and your life, your personal life, is
hid with Christ in God, with Christ who is our life. There it is. When Christ, his
perfect obedience, his life before God, when Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, shall be manifest, then shall you also
appear with him in glory. Now, his life is my life before
God. Now, when that's uncovered, when
that's made known, what confidence I have! Here's my confidence,
that when God sees me, he sees his Son. He sees his life. His life is my life before God. What a glorious manifestation
when I'm enabled by the grace of God to trust his life as my
life before God. Now, this life uncovers or makes
manifest the love of God. Turn to 1 John chapter 4. Simply
by looking at Proverbs by looking at the creation, you can't really
be sure that God loves, you know what? I mean, look at the things
that happen. Look at the wars, look at the
natural disasters, look at the earthquakes, look at the poverty,
look at all the things that happen that God couldn't prevent if
he was so pleased to do so. I mean, you can look at everything
and say, well, does God really love? How can I know if God is
love? Look here in 1 John 4. Here's
the uncovering of this. 1 John 4, verse 9. In this was manifested, was uncovered,
was made known, was made bare the love of God toward us. Because God sent his only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through him. Now you see
all this other stuff that makes you question? Forget it. Forget it. I don't understand
everything God's doing, obviously, neither do you, neither does
anybody else. He does, that's enough for me. But does he love?
He sent his Son. What he says next. Herein is
love. Verse 10. Herein is love. Here is how love is defined. You know, I… I don't much like
it when people describe somebody and say, well, he really loved
the Lord, or he really loves the Lord. Well, he may do it,
but that's not much of it. That's not the way the Bible
defines it. Oh, he really loved the Lord. Well, yeah, I love
the Lord, too. I really do. But I'm ashamed of my love. It
ought to be a whole lot greater. It ought to be infinitely more
than it is. And when I would say, here's
love, look how much I love the Lord. No, that's not what I'm
going to talk about when I talk about His love. Here is love, not that
we love God. But that he loved us. And beloved, that us doesn't
mean all men without exception, or it makes the whole thing meaningless.
He's talking about the elect. He's talking about those he died
for. He's talking about those who believe. Those are the ones
he loved. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Herein is love, not that
we love God. We're not going to talk about
our love to him, but he loved us and sent his Son to be the
propitiation. That's a big word, the propitiation
for our sins. Now, what this tells me right
off the bat is God's love is not unconditional. People talk
about that all the time, the unconditional love of God. There's
no such thing. There's got to be something to
love. Now, for God to love me, something
had to be done about my sin. And he sent his Son to be the
propitiation of our sin. Propitiation means the barrier
between God and us has been removed by the propitiatory sacrifice
of Christ so that I now have no sin and there's nothing to
prevent him from loving me and seeing me as lovely and as beautiful
and as perfect and as worthy of his love. Is Jesus Christ
worthy of the love of God? So is everybody in him, because
he has been the propitiation, the removal of our sin. My sin
became his sin. He bore it, and he put it away. He's the propitiation for our
sin. And that's why God couldn't love me. I'm lovable. I'm lovable. That's true of every believer. You think, how can God love me?
In Christ, cost and sacrifice for him to
make that way, more than I can describe. But every believer
is lovable in Christ Jesus. That's the uncovering of God's
love. Now, you can look at everything else and you can wonder, but
let me ask you a question. And how does your heart answer
to this? Does God really love sinners? He sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. They are the love of God. is
uncovered. 1 John 3. This is the passage of Scripture
I read earlier. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. That's
a good definition of sin. any lack of perfect conformity
to God's holy law is sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Verse 5, and you know that he
was manifested. That's the word. He was uncovered. He was revealed for this purpose
to take away our sins. Now, here's the big question.
Did he do it? He came, he was manifested for
this purpose, to take away our sins, those sins that are ever
before me, that are more than the hairs of my head, that I
don't even know what most of them were. Somebody called me
up recently and said, what's the Bible talking about when
it's talking about sins of ignorance? And I thought, well, most of
my sins are sins of ignorance. I don't even know I'm committing
them when I commit them. I mean, I don't even know about
them. We've got tens of those, millions of those. Sins, sins,
sins. But he was manifested to take
them away, and that is what he did. When he said, it is finished,
you know what? All my sin was taken away. And right now, before God, I
do not have sin." He was manifested to take away our sins, and in
him is no sin. Has it been uncovered to you
that all of God's blessing is entirely in him? It's not in
you, it's not in what you do, it's in him. And in him is no
sin. Turn over to 1 John 2. 1 John 2, verse 28. And now, little children, abide
in him. You know what that means? It means stay in him. It means
don't go anywhere else. It's a conscious desire. This
is what abiding in Christ is. It's a conscious desire to only
be found in Him. When God looks at me, there's
only one way I want Him to see me. In His Son. I don't want
Him to see me any other way. Only in His Son. I know exactly
what Paul meant when he said, Oh, that I may regret and be
found in Him. Not only my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith. Now,
that's what I want. That's what I desire. To abide,
to stay, to not be found anywhere else. Why would you want to be
anywhere else? Would you ever want to be found outside of heaven?
Would you ever want to be outside the ark when it rains? No. Would
you ever want to be outside of one of those houses with the
blood over the door? Would you even stick a finger
out the window? No! No. You want to be found in heaven.
Now, when children abide in him, remain in him, that when he shall
appear, there's the word, when he shall make himself manifest,
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him that he's
coming. Now, here are two reasons to
abide in him. He says, abide in him. This is
the only way we can have confidence. When he returns, when, oh, when
he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then in him be found. When he returns, how do you want
to be found? Now, I've thought about this
a lot, because I've been looking at 2 Thessalonians 1, talking about
the return of the Lord, and I guarantee you, I can't help it. I would
hate, I want to say this right, I'd hate to, when he comes, wouldn't
you hate to be committing some kind of sin when he returns?
I would. But you know, that's stupid,
because there's a very real sense in which, when am I not? When
he comes, I simply want to be found in him, and that's the
only way I can have confidence at his return and boldness at
his coming, boldness on the day of judgment. And there's two
reasons why I want to abide in him and be found in him when
he returns. The first reason is found in
1 John 3, verse 5, because in him is no sin. That means when
he comes and I'm found in him, I will have absolutely no sin. And here's the second reason
I want to simply abide in him, verse 6. Whosoever abides in
him, what does that have to do with It says they sin not. It doesn't say they're treated
as if they didn't sin. It says they didn't sin. They have no sin, and they don't
sin. Now that's how real union with Christ is. In Him, I have
no sin, and I do not sin. In abiding in him, when he shall
appear, we have confidence or boldness. There's no sin to malign
this confidence. We won't be ashamed because there
will be nothing to be ashamed of. We have no sin. That's the
only thing I can be confident in. Not that simply that my sin
is forgiven. I'm thankful for the forgiveness
of sins, and I wouldn't in any way discount the importance of
the forgiveness of sins, but if all that is forgiven, I don't
have much confidence in that. I need more than that. I need
more of him to be forgiven. I need him to be not there. To
where I have no sin. Now, in him, I have no sin. 1 John 3, verse 10. The children of God are manifest,
they're uncovered, they're made bare, they're seen, and the children
of the devil. Now, we can see the children
of God and we can see the children of the devil. Now, how? How is
it that they're manifest? Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Now,
that person who is a child of God is someone who does righteousness. There is a doing of righteousness. Look in 1 John 2, verse 29. If you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Now, what this is a reference
to is the works of the new nature. Everyone that doeth righteousness
is born, is birth of him. Now, when you're born again,
you're given a new heart, a new nature, a holy nature. When that
woman broke that alabaster box of ointment and poured it upon
the Lord's Everybody criticized her for it, but the Lord commended
her. And he said, she's done what she could. She did this out of love to Christ. And that is the doing of righteousness. I'm talking about the action
of the new nature. Now, the action of the old nature
is nothing but sin. The action of the new nature
is nothing but righteousness. Now, anything done out of love
to Christ is the doing of righteousness. Everything the new nature does
in Christ is Christ in me, not me doing it, but him, Christ
in me, yet it's me. Galatians 2.20, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me.
and gave himself for me. All the sin, all the evil works,
be with me. Punishment is not I, but the
sin that dwelleth in me." Now, I, though, am the one who did
it, and take full responsibility. Now, something like this just
can't be explained only experienced. I don't know how else to say
it. I can't explain how a believer has two natures, a holy nature
and an evil nature, but it's the teaching of scripture. Read
Romans chapter 7. Now, when I say it, it wasn't me. It was an old
man. That's me. When I do righteousness, it wasn't
me. It was Christ in me. It was me. Somebody says, I don't believe
that. What I thought of is a hot water
running, and I put it in it, and I experienced this heat,
and somebody says, well, I don't believe it was hot. Well, if you put
your hand in it, you would. This can only be understood by experience. I don't think it can so much
be explained as, there it is. He said in verse 10, and this,
the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.
Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that
loveth not his brother. There is a true brotherhood.
When someone's born of God, there's a true brotherhood. There's a
love for the brethren. Let me ask you a question. In
your heart, don't you truly love anybody who loves Jesus Christ?
You're four, aren't you? You love them. There's a true
brotherhood, there's a love of the brother, and somebody that's
not like this would be a child of the devil. While we're talking
about the devil, look in verse 8 of 1 John, chapter 3. He that
committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, was
made known, was uncovered, that he might destroy the works of
the devil." Now, there are children of the devil. He says, this is
the children of God and the children of the devil. And there is a
being called the devil, Lucifer, Satan, Apollyon. and he hates the Lord Jesus Christ
and he hates all that's associated with him. And the Lord Jesus
Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Now,
what was the first work of the devil that we know of? We know
of this fall from Isaiah 14 where he said, I'll exalt my throne
above God and God cast him down to the earth. But what was his
first work? It was to tempt our first parents
in the garden. He did this, thinking he was
getting against God by getting them to fall. But you know what's
really glorious? He didn't know it, but he was
simply serving God's purpose. He didn't realize it, but he
was doing what God ordained for him to do. Could God have prevented
the fall? Of course he could have! But
he didn't, because it was for the manifestation of his glory.
What would we know of grace if there were no sin? What would
we know of mercy? What would we know of the joy
of forgiveness if there were no sin? This was all a part of
God's purpose. Now, Satan thought he had won
his greatest victory when he saw the Lord die on the cross. He thought, And he didn't realize
that this was the final death blow to him. He was manifested
to destroy, to obliterate the works of the devil. And that
is precisely what he did. When Satan thought he was destroying
him, the Lord was saving all the Father gave him and glorifying
his Father. Verse 19, John says, They went out from
us, they left us. They went in a
different direction. But they were not of us. For if they had been of us, They
would no doubt have continued, remained, abode with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest, that it might be uncovered that they were not
all of us." Now, the children of God are the ones who are of
God. I love that phrase, of God. I love it when the Lord said,
he that is of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear them
not because you are not of God. Anybody who is of God, hears. Now, this is how someone who
is of God is manifest, they persevere. This person who does not persevere,
he went out from us, but he wasn't of us. Because if he would have
been at us, he would no doubt have continued with us. But he
went out that he might be made manifest. Uncovered that he was
not at us. Now, people have used this scripture
to warn people. If you leave this church, you
had it. You prove that you never were
of us. That's what that proves. Preachers
have used this to scare people to death. Watch out! You leave
here, look what's going to happen to you. Now, beloved, I don't
want you leaving here, and I don't want to leave here. I don't want
you to. And if the gospels preach, there's never really a justification
for leaving a place, is there? If the gospels preach. But there's
something called the flesh. And you might get so mad at me
that you can't hear me anymore. I might do something to offend
you. I hope I don't. I hope I don't. But I'm just
dealing with reality. You can leave this local church,
and that doesn't mean you've left the Lord Jesus Christ. What
John's talking about is not talking about leaving a local assembly.
Now, once again, don't leave. I don't want you to leave. I
don't want to leave. It's just a big love fest, you know. But
the point I'm making is if you leave the gospel, If you leave
the way of salvation by Christ, if you leave the way of salvation
by grace, if you leave the way of salvation only in the Lord
Jesus Christ, all you've proved by that is you never were others. Anybody who believes they're
going to continue with this. They're going to continue in
the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. They won't leave. When somebody leaves, I got a
letter today from a guy that I baptized some years ago and
I remember him and he said I want you to know that I'm renouncing
my baptism and he's now a Jehovah witness and I you know and I
just I well okay you know I don't know why I felt like he needed
to tell me that but he never was us I baptized him but he
wasn't baptized in the Holy Spirit He never knew the Lord, he never
knew the gospel, because he wouldn't have gone in that direction.
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. One final scripture, 1 John 3. It's only those who persevere
all the way to the end that are truly God's children, and not
the children of the devil. The Lord said, if you continue,
if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed.
Now, look here in 1 John 3, verse 1. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore, the world doth us
not, because it knew him not. You don't want the world to see
Christ in us. The world didn't see Christ in
Christ, did they? They saw no beauty in him. I want to live
in such a way to honor his gospel. I'm not taking away from the
importance of that, but as far as the world, if the world sees
Christ in you, you know what? They're going to hate you. They're
going to become your enemy. That's so. He says in verse 2,
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear,
and that's the word, it's not uncovered, it's not manifest,
what we shall be. Can you even imagine what it's
like to be without sin? You can't even fantasize about
it. It doesn't appear what we shall be. There's no way you
and I could get a hold of that, to be without sin. I can think
about it, but I'm totally in the dark as to what that means.
It does not yet appear what we shall be, perfectly conformed
to this image. But we know that when he shall
appear, when he shall uncover himself, when he shall make himself
known so that we see him as he is, Not as we think him to be,
but as he is. There will be such power, there
will be such glory in that manifestation that we, looking at him, will
be made just like him. We know that when he shall appear,
we'll be like him. For we shall see him as he is. perfectly confirmed to his image. That's when we will be uncovered
and the real Todd Nybert will be seen. You don't really see
the real Todd Nybert. What you see is going to be put
away. Buried and gone. You haven't
seen the real me yet. And I haven't seen the real you
yet either. What a glorious thing that will be when we see each
other perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. In terms of this world, we can't
see anything. Too many layers. But in terms
of the gospel, thank God he uncovers himself so that we see. Let's pray.