Latest / HBCWestminster / Evidence Of Our Adoption 1 John 2:28-3:10 11.6.19

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Evidence Of Our Adoption 1 John 2:28-3:10 11.6.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  We are going to be in 1 John, as I said. We're going to finish up starting in chapter 2, verse 28. I am going to skip a little bit of our recap. We'll just go over the last few paragraphs to go over. As we've talked about, as we get to know the Lord.
• 0:25
  More intimately, we find the perfection which he offers us in his son, which brings forth a strength and a courage as we know he has already won the victory for us. And last week we looked at and considered one of the quotes that I gave you guys last week was from Brant Hansen. It says, oh yes, the heart is deceptive. That calls for humility above all else because our heart isn't deceptive because it fools other people. It's deceptive because it fools.
• 0:54
  We were talking about these people who sought to deceive and the fact that they were themselves living blind. And the defense, John gives us the defense against this deceiving heart and spirit, which is simple, straightforward, but easily forgotten, which is to abide. Abide in the word, abide in the Lord, abide in Christ.
• 1:20
  This week, John in this section is going to encourage the believer once more, this time by promising the future.
• 1:29
  And thus giving a call to abide in response. John, as he makes these statements again, does so to bring confidence to the believers. We remember that he is talking to the churches in Asia Minor who are being led away by these false teachers. And they're bringing about this doubt in these believing Christians, which is shaking their confidence in their faith. And so John is writing to bring confidence to them to encourage.
• 1:59
  strength and sturdiness in those Christians, in those believers. John is from here on going to be deepening many of his opening arguments. And here in this section, we are going to see the picture of the contrasting light and dark deepened as we see future promise for one and destruction and separation for the other. The capstone to this section we see in verse 10.
• 2:27
  and is very much linked, and I forgot to put chapter 2, but very much linked and like the statements made in chapter 2, verse 11. I think the door is locked. Yeah, you know, Sam, no re-entry. You've got to get your hand stamped.
• 2:58
  Yeah, so the statement in verse 10, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not from God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. And we saw in verse 11, whoever hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness. This is a deepening of these statements that John is going to be making over these verses we're going to look at tonight.
• 3:23
  John makes the evidence of a life filled with sin evident and invokes what should be a thankful response from us, from each believer, as we realize we are no different from that which is described apart from the sonship gifted to us through Christ Jesus.
• 3:44
  That is to say that as we look at this passage tonight, I think it should invoke a thankful response from us as we realize that we are still sinners, yet saved by grace through Christ. And we've been gifted sonship and should walk in loving response to that.
• 4:03
  One of the things I love about, this isn't in your notes, one of the things I love about John is his continual renewal of saying the gospel over and over and over again, reminding these believers what the gospel is, what we've been saved from, so that we can have confidence in it. And that's no different tonight. Let's hop in. We'll read our passage for tonight. We'll pray and we'll get started. Verse 28 of chapter 2 says this,
• 4:31
  Little children abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him and shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices, whoever practices, you may know, maybe sure that whoever who practices righteousness has been born of him. Excuse me. Chapter three.
• 4:57
  See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now.
• 5:13
  And what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.
• 5:35
  You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
• 6:04
  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
• 6:34
  Let's pray. Father in heaven, God, tonight we ask for you to again come through the power of your spirit and the incredible importance of your truth to us and our lives, Lord, illuminate to us, guide us through this study tonight. Lord, I pray that this is honoring and glorifying to you, to your truth, God, and I pray, I pray that you would give us truth to chew on, Lord, truth that
• 7:04
  fills and feeds our souls this evening, Lord, that we can walk with you as you desire for us to. We pray these things in your name. Amen. All right. We are going to split it up like this. We're going to look at verses 28 and 29, the end of chapter 2. Then we are going to look at verses 1 through 3 as our second point. Then 4 through 8 and 9 through 10.
• 7:33
  First point comes from these first two verses. Abide till he appears. Now little children abide in him. So that when he appears we may have confidence. These two verses that were 28 and 29. Really serve as a transition in John's letter to the churches in Asia Minor. Transitioning from a conversation on fellowship with God. To sonship. To adoption. What that looks like. And again how we can know.
• 8:03
  as he says over and over again, or have confidence that we may have confidence in this section. In this bridge section from fellowship to sonship or being born of God, there are three words which I want us to focus on this evening. Abide, appear, ashamed, or shame.
• 8:23
  First word we're looking at is abide. He says, now little children, abide in him. This word we have already met twice before as we have discussed. This is, I think, one of John's favorite words and truths for the believers. John calls for the believer to recognize the importance and impact of abiding. Abiding in Christ. That should be said, not without a T, how though. We abide in Christ.
• 8:51
  How do we abide in Christ? We abide in Christ by believing and living out the truth revealed in his word, loving fellow believers and loving them enough to call them to the truth when correction is needed and being humble enough to accept correction from them when our lives need it. Abiding, I think, has three words involved in it. Obedience, love.
• 9:13
  If we believe and find ourselves struggling in fellowship with the Lord or each other, most likely one of these pillars to the Christian walk is missing from our lives. If we find ourselves struggling in fellowship or in confidence with our adoption as sons and daughters, it's most likely that one of these three words is out of whack in our lives. We have been disobedient.
• 9:39
  not believed the truth or we have not acted in love. These three words are foundational to abiding for the believer. It's the same on the flip side of things. I'm sorry. If we have disobeyed what we, what he has commanded and have a lack of love for fellow believers or ignore truth revealed to us, we will experience broken fellowship, broken confidence, broken confidence.
• 10:09
  in our adoption. It's the same on the flip side of things. If we are loving, obedient children who adopt the truth in the practice of our lives, we will have deep fellowship with the Lord and incredible confidence in our calling as brothers and sisters. This will lead to what John calls from these Christians, confidence. I have told you...
• 10:32
  All several times, the crossover to Timothy and our study on Wednesday nights sometimes surprises me. In fact, on Sunday, if you guys were in Connect, I made reference to what we talked about last Wednesday. And again, I find the connection here between the two funny. It's a little unexpected for me, but it is fairly deep at times, the connection between these two books. And it shouldn't really surprise us because both books are...
• 11:01
  written to combat false teaching, right? So they're going to have some of the same things, but...
• 11:12
  In the study we did on Sunday on Timothy, Paul writes Timothy, and he tells him all these things, and he tells him basically to be confident, to be sure, to walk in confidence, to command these truths. And here, John is calling for confidence and saying that if we abide in him, we'll have confidence not to shrink away when he appears. That's our second word, appear.
• 11:41
  This is the first mention of Christ's return in the epistle so far. Obviously, John's letter of revelation deals deeply with this topic, but here John touches on this hope which the Christian has. He says, when he appears, we may have confidence, not shrink away in shame at his coming. Listen, not everyone agrees on the details of Christ's return. People have debated this for hundreds of years. The details,
• 12:11
  are important as some are spoken of in the word of God. However, the details are not the big picture, which is what brings hope and impact to the life of the believer. The impactful truth, which can and should all be agreed on, is Christ is coming back. Right? We know that. He's coming for his bride, the church, the believers. That's us. We know that.
• 12:38
  No one knows the time or the day. It will be like a thief in the night, the Bible says. This fact, this truth should cause an appreciative and loving response from the believer. If we don't know the time or the day, and yet we know we are saved, praise God, right? That we can have that confidence, that we don't have to live in fear every single day.
• 13:04
  That is what John is trying to give to these believers who have been shaken in their faith as they are experiencing this doubt that these false teachers have brought about. He is contrasting that with the confidence that a believer can have and should have. The fact that Christ is coming back and that we are assured of our salvation should cause us to be appreciative and loving in our response.
• 13:39
  For we don't know the hour or the day, but we do know that if we have placed our faith and trust in Christ's sacrifice payment, then we are assured we will be with him. This is the truth and the blessing of the fellowship we have with God through his Holy Spirit and power of Christ's sacrifice for us. This should and does have an impact on how we live and commune with the Lord and his children. This can and does create a passion.
• 14:09
  to practice righteousness. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. And again, this isn't in your notes, but this is another connection with the statements that Paul makes to Timothy. In Timothy chapter 3, we looked at...
• 14:33
  or chapter four, sorry, chapter four, we looked at Sunday, where he tells Timothy to practice these things right at the end, as he's telling him not to let anybody look down on him. He's telling him to act these certain ways. He says to practice these things. And one of the things I love about that word, about practice, is it means we're not perfect, right? We're not perfect, but we can practice it. We can get better at it. We can walk.
• 15:03
  In loving response to him. The promise of Christ appearing enlists hope in the believer. And action in response to that hope. That we would practice righteousness. Because we have been born of him. If we look at his call to abide. Because Christ is coming. Because he will appear. We also look that he gives a negative. Those are two positives. He gives a negative here.
• 15:34
  for reasons, he says if, I'm sorry, at the end of verse 28, he says that we would not shrink from him in shame. Do these things that we might not shrink from him in shame. The reality, though, is even as we have this hope, as I just said, Christ appearing enlists hope from the believer. We have this hope, this promise of Christ's return.
• 15:59
  I, you, we all still struggle daily, hourly, minute by minute to walk and practice the faith as we ought to, right? John says that it will be those who at his appearing will be put to shame, will be ashamed as they bask at his glory and might. They will be ashamed. John says no matter which way a Christian looks though,
• 16:27
  I think as we have looked through the book of John, we've seen that no matter which way we look as Christians, we will find and can find reason to obey God. He is everywhere and the hope and the confidence he has given us is real and his grace is inexhaustible. If we confess our sins, he is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, John says.
• 16:52
  If we, the Christian, looks to Calvary where Christ died for us, we will find reason to obey, right? We'll find reason to practice righteousness. If we look within where the deposit of the Holy Spirit resides as a seal of the promise, we find reason to obey because we know that we are assured of the hope to come of Christ's return.
• 17:16
  If we look around at all the brothers and sisters whom love us simply because Christ loved them, we find reason to obey because we're perplexed by the fact that in spite of the fact that we're not lovable, they love us. And if we look ahead and see the promised return of Christ and his glorious appearing, we find reason to obey because he is good, righteous, and keeps his promise. John.
• 17:47
  does not say we will not be with him, but he does warn that we can live in a way which when we come face to face with him will make us ashamed of how we lived. We have so many reasons to live out our faith and hope. John wants the readers on this letter to be confident and act on that confident hope and practice righteousness that they might not have anything to shrink away from him at his return.
• 18:20
  John, in his first two chapters, has put the emphasis on knowing what true fellowship with the Lord looks like, i.e. a Christian who is in fellowship with God will practice righteousness and love their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And now, as I said, John is switching to the emphasis on sonship because we are Christians born of God. He will practice righteousness and will love his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We see this in John.
• 18:51
  Chapter 2, verse 29, which we just looked at. John 3, 9, which we'll look at soon. 4, 7, 5, 1, 5, 4, and 5, 18. That we are born of God. We are sons and daughters of God. As we're ready for this next section, verses 1 through 8, you might have been startled a little bit by, depending on the translation with which you read, when you look at verses 6 and 9.
• 19:17
  And the ESV actually does a very good job of translating a couple of very key words in reference to these two verses. But if you're reading from another translation, you might have been a little bit off kilter by these. The ESV says in verse 6, no one who abides in him keeps sinning. And verse 9 says, makes practice.
• 19:41
  And the other translations sometimes will use words that have this idea. Will not sin. Or doesn't sin. Yeah. Continues to sin. Exactly. I think is that an NIV? And I continues to sin? There's one of them that does that. Yeah. But ESV gets it pretty good here. And the truth of these should be apparent to us. Contact communion with God.
• 20:06
  The residing of the Holy Spirit in the believer should have an impact on us. The difference between a Christian and someone who simply claims to know God is one who professes to know and the other knows. One likes the activities of a Christian life. The other knows and is affected by the knowing. John has been spelling that out for us. But here in these two verses we see, and we'll look at this a little bit deeper.
• 20:32
  The Christian who has come in contact with, who actually knows the Lord, who actually abides in him, does not continue, does not practice sin, does not make practice. As we talked about several weeks ago, we talked about that aroma that our lives have, right? We talked about what the tone of our lives are. There's a difference between the struggle that we have on a daily basis to walk as the Lord has called us.