Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / October 25, 2020 | Don't Settle For Christian - Who You Follow (Connor Kraus)

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October 25, 2020 | Don't Settle For Christian - Who You Follow (Connor Kraus) · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, good morning, everybody.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to be with you.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you're doing well.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I had two thoughts during that awesome worship set.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: One was how thankful I am that we have such a fantastic worship band.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And two, yes, right.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And two is and probably just as critical to your enjoyment as how thankful I am my mic was not on.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because I have a voice that only God loves.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, my name is Connor Krause.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I have the pleasure of being the student pastor here at TBC.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm glad to be here.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Slides or no.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Slides or no.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, as we're in this series um called Don't Settle for Christian, right?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're going through the book of 1 John.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And this idea behind it is that uh John, the Apostle John, he was writing this book to Christians.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the purpose was that they would be able to find uh the most wonderful and joyful life in Christ that was possible.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because there are many people who love Christ and have trusted in Christ, but don't understand the fullness of that relationship that we can truly have with Him.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in this morning in the passage that we're looking at, it's a bit of a doozy.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in 1 John chapter 3, and John has both got a very difficult question for us, and also one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament to figure out.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna go through it together.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a lot of fun.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty excited about it.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna try and stay out of the weeds, but I think once we're at the end of this message, we're gonna be able to answer a very deep and profound question, which is are you ready to stand before God's throne?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you're probably like, that's a lot.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's a little heavy this early in the morning to be asking me if I'm ready to stand before God's throne.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's a little early in the morning for those existential kind of questions.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you just had your first cup of coffee.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: But that's what we're looking at this morning, is is am I ready to stand before God's throne?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I've got the text and I'd love to read it to you so we can all sort of be on the same page, and then we'll sort of break it down together.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to be in 1 John, well, we'll start in the end of chapter 2.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's where sort of this passage begins, and we'll go for uh through chapter 3, verse 10.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, John says, So now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: See what great love the Father has given us, that we should be called God's children, and we are.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: The reason the world does not know us is that it didn't know him.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know that when he was revealed, or that he was revealed, so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Every one who remains in him does not sin.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get back to that.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Children, let no one deceive you.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the devil's works.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Every one who has been born of God does not sin, because his seed remains in him.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: He is not able to sin because he has been born of God.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is how God's children and the devil's children become obvious.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that passage right there, there are a couple of challenging things in it that we're going to address this morning.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the first, uh, that you probably heard there in chapter three, verse six, is how can everyone who is in him not sin?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's the first challenge.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: The second challenge is John brought up this language, he was talking about seeds, uh, but we're not discussing a garden here.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: So what's his point?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Actually has a lot to do with understanding this passage.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And third and finally, and to our question that we started this morning with, is how does any of this help us stand before God's throne, which we will all do at some point in time.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So our the big verse that we're looking at this morning, and if you want to call it this sort of the one that unlocks the rest of the passage, the one that we're really focusing on is going to be chapter 3, verse 6.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the Christian Standard Bible has this translation: everyone who remains in him does not sin, everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Your translation might have something like everyone who remains in him does not practice sin, something like that.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um if we took this verse just as it is right now, you you would probably come up with one of two interpretations.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Either that Christians don't sin, in which case I'm in trouble, um, or two, that Christians do sin, but we just don't do the same sin twice.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: We just sort of have a rotating wheel that we hit on.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: But this brings us to a really, really important thing.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever we find difficult passages, and I'm just asking, why does context matter?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Why should you care about it?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And why is Instagram a bad place for theology?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is sort of our, this is this is sort of our question here.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like I said, if you were just looking at that verse, you might interpret it a certain way.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: But context is super, super important.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in the student ministry, we make sure and tell the students that context is super, super important.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because there is a lot more than just the verse that we can look at here.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: There is a lot more.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why we want to look outside of this verse is because we believe and we know that the Bible is internally consistent.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Though it was written over a thousand years and by many different authors, it was written by God.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we can look across the Bible when we find these sort of thorny passages to understand what it means.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Without context, it's like if you've ever played that Halloween game where you're blindfolded and you reach your hands into the box and it feels like worms, but in reality it's like cooked noodles, okay?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody no?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a Halloween game that some people play.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: You have different things that you reach into and it's supposed to feel kind of gross.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's this passage without context, if you're following with me.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: We basically want to understand and look around because we're going to see uh in the section, which is what we just read, the passage or thought, the book of 1 John, and then in the Bible, there are going to be some verses that we can use and some other passages that will sort of knock out these difficult ideas and help us to walk forward with it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, when we look at the section, right, just the passage that I read to you a moment ago, we have um 1 John chapter 3, verse 1.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God's children.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we are.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what's the clue here to unlocking chapter 3, verse 6?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's that the message is for Christians.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you might be like, yeah, obviously.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: But why is this important?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because there are some books in the Bible that weren't intended exclusively for those who believed in Christ.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in 1 John, we know that his purpose is writing to Christians.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So why is that significant?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's significant because we believe that if you've trusted in Christ, that you don't lose your salvation.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so the thing that this knocks out or helps us to understand about the passage is that even though it's difficult and says everyone who remains in him does not sin, we know that salvation is not on the table here.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: What we're talking about must be something else.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is intended specifically for Christians and those who know that they are going to be with God forever.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: The next section that we can look at is the book, just the the book of 1 John.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we see two important clues here.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is in chapter 1, verse 4.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: He says, We are writing these things so that your joy may be complete.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Why is that important?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's important because the message is meant for our encouragement.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that he's not going to talk about, you know, some really difficult topics, that those who remain in him don't sin.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's meant to be encouraging, if if the intention of his writing was that those who know Christ can find their fullest fulfillment in him and that life that leads to true joy, then we know that the passage is supposed to be helping us out and emboldening us towards Christ.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's important too.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing that we see here is in chapter 1, verse 8.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Third clue.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: The message knows we all sin.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean by that is that John, when he wrote in chapter 1 that, listen, all Christians sin.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember, Jim talked about this two weeks ago.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: He said, there's no such thing as Christian perfectionism.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: We we, even though it's our goal, we never actually hit a point where we are entirely sinless.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean we should stop trying.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: But John is saying, look, we're all Christians.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: We know we sin, right?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we know that.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: So did he have dementia when he wrote two chapters later, that all those who remain in him do not sin?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: No, John did not have dementia.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: But it does mean once more that we need to adjust our view of the passage.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you can sort of see why we're backing out, why this context is helpful for us.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: But we're almost there.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: We've got one last section we want to look at.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that is just the whole Bible.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, that's a lot to look at.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, we're just looking at one verse here.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: But the important section from the passage that we need to hear and that helps us unlock everything is when John was talking about seeds.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, why are seeds important?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, seeds are important, and here's the passage from 1 John.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has been born of God does not sin because his seed remains in him.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is how God's children and the devil's children become obvious.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this seed language.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: John knows his Bible, and he is taking us all the way back to Genesis 3.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Genesis 3, 15 says this I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: A couple things about this.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is during, this is right after the fall of man.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is Adam and Eve.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: They took the apple off the no-no tree, and then sin entered into the world.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so God here, this is part is sort of in the middle of his judgment upon the world, but he is speaking to Satan here.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put hostility between you and the woman.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And your Bible, if you are looking at Genesis 3.15, it might say offspring, which is a more easy to understand reference, and that and that's really what we're talking about is her offspring and the offspring of Satan.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: But this seed language is actually what the word means.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And what we're tapping into here is something that quite literally is a theme that runs throughout the rest of the Bible.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a whole nother sermon on what it means about this seed language.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: But here's my clip art to shorten that for you.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I've in the student ministry, I like to use clip art, and it's absolutely dreadful.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I like to make it myself, but it typically helps explain some things.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: So in God's original plan for the world, we were all his children, and we were all under his care, and we were all supposed to be carrying out his will.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: But then there's a break that happens.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And in Genesis 3.15, we see that there's a split that takes place.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And God no longer refers to every single child or every single bit or every single person on earth, I should say, as one of his children.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is why it's so important to understand these things because that's why John, when he keeps calling us God's children, we're like, oh, he means something here.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what he's referencing.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And this idea, it runs throughout the rest of Scripture.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, and just beyond the passage that we were reading in 1 John, John references it.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Do you remember Cain and Abel?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Cain and Abel were the first examples in the Bible of where these two groups began to have conflict.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: See, even though Cain and Abel they were brothers, right?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're familiar with the story of Cain and Abel.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Cain kills his brother Abel, they were both children of Adam and Eve.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: They were brothers.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But yet God says that one of them is from the Lord's seed, and one of them belongs to Satan.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: How can that be if they are brothers?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is the fourth and final clue that we get to the passage that we're looking at this morning, which is that the message is symbolic.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to be clear, I mean, there are some very specific things that John is referencing here, very practical things.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: But when we get into this passage and we start talking about the seed of God, we're talking about some high-level stuff here.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: And John is saying, every single one of you who have believed in Christ, you are a child of God and you are part of his seed, his lineage, his family.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: But for those who don't believe in Christ, and John uses a very specific word for everybody who has rejected Christ, and he actually uses a like lowercase a antichrist to speak of them.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: He is creating two diametrically opposed sides to each other.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, one of you belong to God, and one of you belong to Satan.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, okay, how does that that's that's also quite heavy too?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: How does that help us to understand this passage?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go back to chapter 3, verse 6, the crux of our passage, and see everyone who remains in him does not sin.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, keeping in mind that this is intended for Christians, it's supposed to be encouraging, that John already remembers, he hasn't forgotten, that just a few chapters ago he said that we do not sin.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, that this is supposed to be symbolic of the seed language.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: What is the interpretation?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what we're getting at here is John is saying, look, when you belong to God's family, you've been called certain things.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: You are his child.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: And being a part of God's family means that we are supposed to represent the king.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: We are his children, and the children of the king are supposed to represent the royal family.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so, in an idealized state, in a perfect sense, if you look at the passage or the verses just before this, he says, when Jesus comes, we will see him as he truly is, and then we will be as we truly are.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: We are saying that the children of God should not be sinning, and that in those moments, when we do sin, that we are looking like we are children of the devil.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's what this verse means.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And to back it up a little bit more, we can very quickly say this this phrase here, the word, this is um Hamartine, which is present active in Greek.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you're like, you've got about 30 seconds before we need to be off this slide.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm with you, I'm with you.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: But why is this important?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of the book uh the translations that we have say, does not sin everyone who sins, or which is actually a worse translation, does not practice sin, everyone who practices sin.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that has led to a lot of confusion about what it means for a Christian to practice sin.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: And while that's an important conversation, that's that's not what this is.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: A present active means it's an action that is currently happening.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was it would be as if I said, he is pitching right now.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so the idea, Jim and I kind of agree on this revised translation, is everyone who remains in him, he she is not sinning.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone who is currently sinning has not seen him or known him.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully you can get here this a bit of a change in pace that John is coming from.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying, hey, Christian, those moments when you decide that following the world is more important than following God's plan, that obedience or disobedience is better than obedience.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: In those moments you are acting like you have not seen him and you have not known him.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: In those moments you are not acting like you are part of God's seed, but rather you're acting like you are of Satan's seed.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's critical, it's super important.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's dreadful that we would ever be projecting an image to the world that we don't belong to God.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you how many times I know I've experienced, and I'm sure you've heard it too, those people who struggle to see God's church as their home and struggle to trust in Christ.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: How many of them have referenced a hypocritical Christian?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Say that six times, hypocritical Christian.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: A hypocritical Christian that has made them think that God's promises were not true.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what a devastating burden to hold.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, you know what?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: I I a couple years ago I decided that I just didn't really believe in God.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: I just decided that the church, it wasn't a place that spoke to me or belonged to me.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, tell me more about that.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why why is that the case?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what what was it about the church that was so off-putting to you?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, My my grandpa, he was a pastor, and I went to his church growing up, and my grandpa was also the biggest drunk that I've ever known in my entire life.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And look, I know we all struggle with different things.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's not the point that I'm trying to make.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: But what a sad message to send.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: That the man in this at that point in time, this young boy's life, who was supposed to represent God's promises to him and explain those to him, was the thing that ultimately made him decide that the church wasn't a place for him.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: That can be devastating.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: But uh don't worry, this is ultimately supposed to be encouraging.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is the encouragement that we're supposed to get?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you can think of it like this way.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can think of it this way.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like a restaurant that has a all employees must wash hands sign.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: The children of God are supposed to be identified by the actions that they have.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just like the employees of a health conscious restaurant, I'm sure the one that all of you are going to go to after church is healthconscious, and all the employees wash their hands.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: But we've all seen before the employees who decide that they didn't need to wash their hands.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it doesn't mean that they're no longer employees, but it does mean that they are not living up, it does mean that they are not living up to the standards that that restaurant has established.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So there are two ways that we can take this lesson, take this phrase here, this admittedly sort of difficult passage about God's seed and the devil's seed, and we can apply it to our lives.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's both an outward and an inward application.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, outwardly, I want you to think of this like a one-way street.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: See, this passage has been used quite a bit by Christians who maybe don't totally understand its context as a cudgel to abuse other Christians.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Particularly when we look at the passages that say, those who belong to God do not practice sin.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: We know that's not what it's actually saying, but that type of idea has really hurt some people in the past.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to think of it when you look outward, when When you look into the church, when you look to other Christians who are struggling in their lives, just as we deal with our own struggles, I want you to think of this as a one-way street.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: That we are always supposed to be encouraging, helpful, uplifting, kind and joyful to each other as we are all striving towards that goal of being more Christ-like.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I certainly in all of my days have not walked perfectly in a straight line towards Jesus.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: And there have been many times in my life where the leaders, particularly some in my story, the church leaders in my life, had a huge impact because rather than admonishing me in a way filled with shame, they said, Hey, I know you're called to something greater.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know because you are God's seed, you have a power within you, the Holy Spirit that has helped you and has given you every tool you need to fight this sin and live in freedom from it.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: That was how they helped me walk forward.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't go backwards down the street and say, you know what, because of this sin in your life, I'm not sure if you're actually saved.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the language that some people like to use.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And while it may be originating from a point of helpfulness, maybe, trying to help others see where they can grow, oftentimes it's just a defeating idea.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it can just be painful to the person who's on the receiving end of it, and sort of like stamping out a fresh shoot from a flower.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's very important that because we recognize that we have not been saved by works, that we don't judge someone else's faith by their works.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: So outwardly, it's a one-way street.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: As Christians, as people in the church, when others are struggling, let's help them along, draw them towards greater love and good deeds, because God has called us to those things, but let's do it with an air of compassion.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: But inwardly, and this is the one I really want to spend a little bit of time on, what is the personal focus?
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's really what John is looking at here.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying, What is you, Christian?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: How can I write this so that you may find the greatest amount of joy?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there are two things we need to look at: the throne and the joy that can be found.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: But first I want to look at chapter 2, verse 6.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: It says, the one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: This word should, in Greek it's it's aphilo, and the real word behind it is the idea of being a debtor, somebody who owes a lot of money.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the point that John is making here, when he says should walk just as he walked, just as Jesus walked, is not like, hey, it's a good idea if you want to try and keep the sin out of your life.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying, no, the idea I want you to understand is that Jesus has died for you.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a debt you will never, ever be able to repay.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so, though some people decide they don't want to, every single one of us should be walking just as Jesus walked, as one who is trying to pay back a debt that they will never, ever be able to pay back.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: That earnestness that should be within us, that desire to be more like Christ, there is absolutely an aspect of it that says, I know I can't ever repay or earn my salvation.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: But darn it, if I don't want to try and live the best life possible because Jesus saved me for that reason.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's what this verse is getting at.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so remember the question that we asked at the beginning of the morning, that the one we maybe was a little stark to start off with, is are we ready to stand before God's throne?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, there's two ways we need to look inward, and the first one is considering the throne.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And to all of you and to everybody online, like every single one of you is going to stand before God's throne one day.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Every single person.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: And every single person that's not a Christian is also going to stand before God's throne.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: But for Christians, we have a particular way that we are going to go before God's throne.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: And in that moment that we do, the Bible says that there will be both the recognition of awards for the things that we have done in this life, but that also the works that we have done for Christ will be tested.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: And there will be some of us, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, that believe in Christ, that have eternity with heaven locked up and secure, but it will be like as those who have just escaped the fire.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a heavy thought.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really heavy thought.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: That there are people who've believed in Christ, who've decided that following Him and living a life for Him is not something of their concern.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: They have a place, Jesus is preparing a spot for them in heaven.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: But when they get before the judgment seat of Christ, there will be an aspect where they say, you know what?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I could have done a little bit more.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: I could have done a little bit more.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, we have a Savior who says, I've covered all of that, every single bit of it.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: I died for that, and that's why you get to come on through.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then we'll get to rejoice with him forever in eternity where there's no more crying and no more pain and no more suffering.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that is where I really want to leave you this morning, is I want to pivot from the throne and consider the joy.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because that is why John actually wrote this book.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is not to make us have these trembling ideas of being before a throne, but rather to say, do you know how wonderful it is when we actually live the life that God has intended for us to live?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know the joy that can be found when we walk away from sin?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of people they like to say that Christian life or that the way that the church acts, it's just a bunch of rules.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a bunch of things that they don't want you to do because they don't want you to have fun.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And my response to that, I think, is pretty easy.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: It says, look, yeah, the Bible says that we shouldn't do some things.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: But the way I look at it is that there is a God who created me and created whomever it is that I'm talking to about it.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he knows, because he made me what it will take for me to find the greatest amount of joy.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's not found in money.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's not found in, you know, the success of life.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's not found in recognition.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's not found in any of the world things that, worldly things that we can find that so often just leave us wanting more and more and more.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, the thing that fills us, the thing that my old youth pastor used to say, that fills the God-shaped hole that has been left in our hearts, the only thing that does that is walking with Christ.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: The word that John uses so much over and over and over and over in his work here in 1 John is abiding.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: That we want to be Christians who are abiding with Christ.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: That word is one who is walking in lock step, is walking hand in hand with the creator and savior of the world, because that is where we will see just a glimpse, right, of the joy that is awaiting us in heaven.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Just a glimpse.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: So to wrap up here, are you ready to stand before God's throne?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us is going to be there one day.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to hear, well done, good and faithful servant.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I also want to be clear, I'm not trying to be too heavy with this.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: The purpose of this message is that we have given every single tool we need so that we can fight against the sin in our life.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because, as Paul says in Romans, we are no longer slaves to it.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: And we can walk in freedom.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: We can act like the children of God that we are supposed to be.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the best part.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the best part is that when we are walking the way we are supposed to walk, that light that shines, as John says, because God is all light and in him there is no darkness, that light that is shining into the world is absolutely magnetic.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody wants to be a part of it because God is irresistible.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: So when we are walking with Christ, we get other people to join with us.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: And as that family of Christ grows, heaven swells, and we get to see even more and more people at the end of days who we're able to share the gospel with and rejoice in being in the presence of our God forever and ever.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: So don't worry about difficult passages in the Bible.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Bible's internally consistent.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to shy away from them.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: They can often lead us to great truths.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the great truth this morning is that we want to be ready for it and we want to be ready to stand before the throne of God because there are some awesome things awaiting us.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: And in this life, until then, we just want to live for Him as much as we can, because that is where we find the greatest joy.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: All right, would you pray with me?
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for today.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: God, we thank you for Jesus Christ, that he died on the cross for our sins and that we might live in eternity with you because of it.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: We've done nothing to deserve it.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: But Father, we do ask that you would help us by the power of your Spirit to live out the life of good deeds that you have called us to here, now that we know you.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Father, please help us to be a light to the nations and to live lives that are not hypocritical to the best of our abilities, but rather ones that are encouraging and uplifting to those around us.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Father, please help us to just be a little bit more like you this week and this month and this year.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: God help us each day to draw a little bit closer.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name that we pray.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great Sunday.