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The Message of Jesus – Part 3
1 John 1:5-10 (8-10)
January 2, 2022

As you know, we’ve begun studying the epistle of 1 John
And John has started with the issue of fellowship.

• ON ONE HAND we are learning BASIC TRUTHS about what it means to be in the fellowship of the church.
• ON THE OTHER HAND we are learning HOW ONE ENTERS that fellowship.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF COURSE IS
The spiritual unity that is unique only to the redeemed.

John 17:20-23 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

We are talking about that common spiritual life
Which comes only from the Father through Jesus Christ to the redeemed.

It is not primarily a social fellowship, it is a spiritual fellowship.

And John has been outlining HOW ONE ENTERS this fellowship.

1 John 1:3 “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

We enter the fellowship when we hear and believe THE MESSAGE of the gospel which Jesus gave the apostles and they gave to us.

And so, as we have said for a few weeks now,
THIS MAKES CLARIFYING THE MESSAGE VERY IMPORTANT
And that is what John is reiterating for us here in the opening chapter.

He made the definitive statement in verse 5
(5) “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you…”

It is Christianity 101
• This has been the foundational message of the church from day 1.
• This message is what one hears and believes in order to enter the fellowship.

And we’ve been studying it for the last 2 weeks.
#1 GOD IS HOLY
1 John 1:5-6

This was John’s point when he said that
“God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

God is perfectly holy.
God dwells in unapproachable light.
And therefore God has no fellowship with darkness at all.

What that means for us at the outset is that
Fellowship with God is NOT AUTOMATIC for humanity.

Humanity has fallen into sin.
Humanity has fallen into darkness.

And this put a division between man and God
So that there is no natural or automatic fellowship between God and man.

• We talked about the veil.
• We talked about the sin of Uzza.

THE ONLY WAY that any man can have fellowship with God
Is if he is saved from the darkness and walks in light.

THAT IS CHRISTIANITY 101

And that truth helped us grasp our FIRST SORT OF LITMUS TEST.

(6) “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”

THIS IS OBVIOUS.
• If God does not fellowship with darkness then it stands to reason that those
who walk in darkness have no fellowship with God.

They can claim it, but they are lying.
They are those FRAUDS that we talked about.

The first leg of the message has always been the holiness of God
And the fact that man in his sin has no fellowship with Him.

That is a harsh, but accurate, and necessary truth.

However, there is good news.
#2 JESUS SAVES
1 John 1:7

There is a way to leave the darkness and be transferred to the Light
So that one may have fellowship with God.

How does that happen?

It occurs when “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Again, this is obvious Christianity.
• Since God is holy and man is not.
• Man must be cleansed if he is to gain access to God.
• This occurs through the sacrificial atonement of Christ.

Jesus came to this earth, lived a righteous life,
And then died upon a cross that He might save men from sin.

• He saves from THE PENALTY OF SIN – “no condemnation”
• He saves from THE POWER OF SIN – we are freed from sin’s power
• He saves from THE PRACTICE OF SIN – He sanctifies and washes us

And THE POINT we understood is that
Jesus does not save men from sin and then live them in it.

His cleansing is not a hypothetical cleansing, it is an actual one.

HE JUSTIFIES US – where we are clothed in His righteousness and granted access to the Father.

HE SANCTIFIES US – where He continually washes us and conforms us into His image.

HE WILL GLORIFY US – where His salvation will be complete and we will be holy.

Everything about the work of Jesus
Is to save us from that which has separated us from the Father.

Colossians 1:13-14 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

That is the good news.
• The separation from God is repaired by Jesus.
• We are reconciled, we are redeemed.

AND NOW, AS THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN REDEEMED,
AND WHO ARE BEING CLEANSED,

We are those who “walk in the Light, as He Himself is in the Light” and “we have fellowship with one another”

As the church we share the common bond of “sinners who are being cleansed of our sin” so that we have fellowship with God.

THAT IS THE MESSAGE.

BUT just as there are those who denied the first point of the message
Regarding the holiness of God,

There are also those who deny the second point of the message
Regarding our need for cleansing.

And this is THE SECOND IMPOSTER John would introduce us to.

The first one was THE FRAUD who walked in darkness but claimed fellowship with God.

Now we are dealing with THE DELUSIONAL
Who do not believe they need a Savior to cleanse them from sin.

(8) “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

What does it mean to “say that we have no sin”?

This one obviously must be distinguished from verse 10
“If we say that we have not sinned…”

In verse 10 it is obviously a reference to sinful behavior.
That person says that they don’t do sinful things.

So what then does John mean here in verse 8 regarding those who “say that we have no sin”?

Here we are dealing with a person who claims to not be a sinful person.
They deny that they have a sin nature.
They deny they have a fallen flesh in need of redemption.

THEY CLAIM TO BE A GOOD PERSON.

They may not deny that they slip up from time to time,
But the belief is that “On the inside I’m good.”

You can actually hear Jesus confront the Jews with a very similar mindset.
John 8:37-47 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

And again
John 9:39-41 “And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

You see that they had this belief of being intrinsically good.

Incidentally much of our CULTURAL MINDSET and even MODERN PSYCHOLOGY bases its beliefs on this faulty premise.

It is the belief that people are basically good and if they sin or mess up
It is only because they are a victim of their circumstances.

But that is NOT the Christian message.

If someone can come to the realization
That they are a basically good person,
It is an undeniable revelation that they are not walking near to God.

All throughout Scripture, THE CLOSER a man gets to God
THE MORE AWARE he is of his sinful state, not the less.

Isaiah 6:1-5 “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

How about when Peter realized who Jesus really was.
Luke 5:4-8 “When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

How about when John saw the resurrected and glorified Christ.
Revelation 1:17a “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man…”

The closer men get to the light
The more aware they become of their sinfulness.
Not just the sin they’ve committed, but their overall sinful nature.

To claim that “we have no sin”
Only indicates how far you actually are from God.

Furthermore, Christianity doesn’t blame sin on your circumstances
Christianity says you sin because you have a sinful heart.

Romans 7:14-24 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.”

The message of Christianity…
The message of Jesus…
Is that men sin because in their heart they are sinful.

Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

We understand that man is not a sinner simply because he sins.
MAN SINS BECAUSE HE IS A SINNER.

MAN IS IN DARKNESS.
Man needs to be cleansed if they are ever to gain access to the Father.

But for a man to “say that we have no sin”
John says “we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

If you are of the belief
• That you do not have a fallen sinful nature
• That has corrupted your heart
• And made you incapable of holiness
• THEN YOU ARE DECEIVED.

Most specifically you have deceived yourself.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”

A man who thinks himself to be intrinsically good is not a Christian man.

• Every man is fallen.
• Every man sins because every man is sinful.
• We all inherited that from our father Adam.

• And thus we all are in need of the cleansing of Jesus.
• No one is exempt.

If someone claims otherwise, they are not a Christian.
If someone claims otherwise, they are not part of the fellowship.
This is Christianity 101
This is obvious.

Every man is need of the cleansing of Jesus.

And the third leg of the Christian message is THE MEANS through which that cleansing is RECEIVED.

God is Holy, Jesus Saves
#3 REPENTANCE IS REQUIRED
1 John 1:8-10

The issue on the table from John here is that of repentance.

(9) “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is the means through which the cleansing of Jesus is received.
• A man confesses his sin to God
• And God who is faithful and righteous forgives that sinner
• And cleanses them based upon the sacrificial work of Jesus.

That is also BASIC and OBVIOUS Christianity.
Sinners must repent of their sin and trust in Christ.

Now to set the appropriate backdrop I would go ahead
And introduce you to that THIRD IMPOSTER as well.

He is found in verse 10. “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

• We saw the FRAUD who walks in darkness but says he is in the light.
• We saw the DELUSIONAL who thinks he is a good person not needing a Savior.
• Here we see the BLASPHEMER who refuses to admit that he sins at all.

This man has been called a sinner, but he balked at the notion.

The question is: WHO CALLED HIM A SINNER?
God did.

But when God called this man a sinner this man in turn called God a liar.
• He ignored God’s word.
• He closed his Bible.
• He blew God off and walked away.

James 1:19-20 “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

What James is talking about is how a man receives the word of God.

James says you should “be quick to hear” it.
• You ought to want to hear what God has to say.

He says you should be “slow to speak” or argue.
• God knows you better than you know yourself, you ought not make excuses or give argument when God confronts your sin.

And finally James says, “and slow to anger”
• Meaning that you don’t fight against God’s conviction. Don’t get angry about it.

Why?
• Because “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

That is to say, “Fighting and arguing with God’s word is not going to help you achieve the righteousness God is seeking to produce.”

Some people argue.
Some people deny their sin.
It walks hand in hand with the man who denies his sinful heart.

Might I remind you that Christianity begins with
An understanding of your sinfulness and a grief over it.

Matthew 5:3-4 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

It’s not people who deny their sin who enter heaven,
It’s people who own up to it and grieve over it who enter.

I’ve always loved the Centurion who received praise from Jesus.
Matthew 8:5-8 “And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

• Literally the centurion said there, “I am not enough.”
• It wasn’t just that he had sinned, but that he was a sinner.
• He was unworthy.
• He was broken.
• Jesus would praise that man and say he hadn’t found faith like that anywhere in Israel.

AND THAT IS THE POINT.
• A man who thinks he isn’t sinful is delusional.
• A man who denies that he sins at all is a blasphemer because he is calling God a liar.

If someone denies the presence of sin and their need of a Savior
You are obviously not looking at a Christian.

• Foundational Christianity understands the holiness of God.
• Foundational Christianity understands the need for the cleansing of Jesus.
• Foundational Christianity understands that repentance is the means through which we receive it.

So let’s look now a little closer at that wonderful verse 9.
This is a promise on which we hang our hats and our hope.

(9) “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We already addressed the issue that
True Christians are aware of their sin and their sinfulness before God.

The question is, what do they do with it?
What does a Christian do with their sin and their sinfulness?

And the answer:
THEY CONFESS IT

“If we confess our sins…”

“confess” translates HOMOLOGEO

HOMO means “same”
LOGEO is the Greek word for “word”

It means “to say the same thing”
It means “to agree or to concede”

It is the very opposite of self-deceived pride or arrogant argument.
A Christian is one who agrees with God about their sinful state.

When the Bible says I am sinful, I don’t deny it, I agree with it.
When the Bible says I have sinned, I don’t argue about it, I admit it.

THIS IS BASIC CHRISTIANITY.
The Christian life is characterized by repentance.

• I’m not just saying that you repented one time and that’s how you were saved,
• I’m saying that as a Christian repentance is a common occurrence.

• A Christian longs for righteousness…
• A Christian strives to walk in the light…
• A Christian is honest about his fallen sinful nature, his continual failure
• And therefore A Christian lives in a continual repentant state before God.

THAT IS CHRISTIANITY.
Not those who deny it, but those who agree and confess it.

A MAN WHO DOESN’T SEE HIS SINFULNESS,
John says, “The truth is not in that guy.”

A MAN WHO DENIES THAT HE EVER SINS,
John says, “God’s word is not in that guy.”

BUT A MAN WHO HAS
• Heard the truth about his sinful nature
• Had his sin exposed by God’s word
• Grieved over it and owned up to it

That is a man who is being cleansed by Jesus
And who has fellowship with God.

Again, that shouldn’t be shocking to you.
There’s nothing radical about that at all.

BUT I SUPPOSE SOMEONE MIGHT ARGUE HERE…

If God is Light and does not fellowship with darkness…

Then how is it that the only way to fellowship with Him
Is if you admit your darkness?

From a human standpoint you’d think that you’d have a better shot fellowshipping with God if you were able to keep your sin concealed.

That is what humans do isn’t it?
They get caught in sin so they lie about it
So they can avoid the consequences.

But the message of Jesus is just the opposite.
The message of Jesus is that
• You should own up to your sin
• And confess it to God
• And then you get fellowship.

WHY?

Because “He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Why is it that people who confess their sin gain fellowship with God?
• Because Jesus saves and cleanses those people.
• And based upon the work of Jesus, God forgives those people.

We are talking about the REALITY OF FORGIVENESS.

I listened a sermon recently by John MacArthur on forgiveness and I really liked the way he explained it.

“Forgiveness is a promise. It is a promise from God to the repentant sinner, to the one who comes to Him with a broken and a contrite heart, affirming his own desperate need, his own sinfulness, and reaching out for the provision of Jesus Christ, it is a promise from God to that sinner.
And here’s the promise: that his sin will never be remembered, that his sin will be buried in the depths of the deepest sea, that his sin will be removed as far as the east is from the west, that his sin will never again be brought up in the mind of God; or the tribunal of heaven. It is a promise that no charge will ever successfully be laid against that sinner; that no accusation against him will ever stand; a promise that under no circumstances forever will he be condemned. That’s the promise. A magnanimous, far-reaching, startling and astounding promise; given purely and simply out of the heart of a loving and gracious God to a penitent sinner.”
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/47-9/the-blessings-of-forgiveness-part-2

I think that’s a great way to look at forgiveness.
Forgiveness is a promise from God not to punish those who repent.

I think that even helps us understand
Why humans are typically so bad at forgiveness.

We make promises of forgiveness to people too,
But we often don’t keep our word.

Something comes up, maybe another offense occurs, and the first thing we do is renege on that promise we gave and we immediately bring that first sin back to the table.

But do you know why you can trust God’s promise of forgiveness?
It is because “He is faithful”

When God promises not to punish you for your sin,
He will never go back on that promise.

We see such beautiful language in Scripture:
Psalms 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Isaiah 38:17 “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”

Micah 7:19 “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.”

All of those are merely analogies to express exactly what John says here.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful…to forgive us”

He doesn’t go back on a promise.

The Christian message rests on this.
• That God shows grace to the humble.
• That God lifts up the lowly in spirit.
• That God forgives repentant sinners.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.

Remember the issue is NOT JUST for God to not condemn us,
THE ISSUE IS FELLOWSHIP.

God promising not to destroy you is not the same thing as God allowing you behind the veil.

God promising not to condemn you is not the same thing as God allowing you into intimate fellowship with Him.

There is a SECOND THING God does when we repent.
Not only is there forgiveness based upon the faithfulness of God.

But there is also cleansing based upon the righteousness of God.

For John also says that “He is…righteous…to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

• It’s the second time that word “cleanse” has shown up in the text.
• In verse 7 we read about how “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

And here we read again that when we confess our sins
That God will “cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

WHY?
So that we may have fellowship with Him.
• God not only forgives repentant sinners,
• But through Jesus He cleanses them.

ISN’T THAT GOOD NEWS!

At this point there should be no confusion
Regarding what you are to do with your sin.

You should know that
• The reason you sin is because you are sinful.
• Your sin separates you from a Holy God who will not fellowship with darkness.
• Jesus came to save sinners from their sin by cleansing them with His own blood.
• If you will confess that sin to Him, He will forgive you and cleanse you so that you may for the first time have fellowship with God.

THIS IS THE MESSAGE
And when that message is heard and believed
This is how a person enters the fellowship of the church.

This fellowship is not for those who love sin.
If you love sin you are a fraud.

This fellowship is not for those who deny their sinfulness.
If you deny your sinfulness you are delusional.

This fellowship is not for those who ignore or disregard their sin.
If you disregard your sin you are a blasphemer.

The true fellowship is those
• Who have confessed their sin
• And who are forgiven of their sin
• And who are being cleansed of that sin through the work of Jesus.

THAT IS THE CHURCH!

If you are a part of it, rejoice! Because you don’t deserve it.
If you are not a part of it, repent! That you may be forgiven and cleansed.
BUT DON’T BE A FRAUD OR DELUSIONAL OR A BLASPHEMER

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The Message of Jesus – Part 2
1 John 1:5-10 (7)
December 26, 2021

Last Sunday morning we started working our way through
This very important passage here at the beginning of 1 John.

John has begun his epistle by outlining the joy of fellowship.

Fellowship is that common spiritual life which we share.

It is what makes the church unique from every other organization.
• It’s NOT just that we like each other or share common interests.
• It’s NOT just that we choose to get along.
• You might be more accurate in calling that “harmony”

What we are talking about is fellowship.
It is to share in common spiritual life.

As believers in Jesus we have been granted the very life of God.
It is the same life which is in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

AND THE CHURCH HAS THIS LIFE.

And we talked about HOW ONE ENTERS this fellowship.

FIRST, JESUS CAME AND REVEALED THIS LIFE
• He came and taught life.
• He came and brought life.

• John was one of the apostles who saw that life.
• John was one of the apostles who heard about that life.
• John was one of the apostles who received that life.

SECOND, THE APOSTLES PROCLAIMED THIS LIFE TO US
1 John 1:3 “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

THIRD, WE BELIEVED THE MESSAGE OF THE APOSTLES
• When we believe we are granted fellowship with the Father.
• When we believe we are granted fellowship with the Son.
• When we believe we are granted fellowship with other believers.

Through faith we have this common spiritual life.

And since that comes through hearing and believing the message
Then that MAKES THE MESSAGE VERY IMPORTANT.

And it is the message which John is reiterating to us.

In fact he says it directly in verse 5, “This is the message…”

It is important for us to be clear about this message for a number of reasons.

One is obviously because this is the message a lost man must believe in order to enter the fellowship.

• So if you are on the outside looking in, then you should be extremely interested
in this message.

Another is because this is the message by which we evaluate other messages.

• John said there are many deceivers who are seeking to lead the church
astray.
• There are all sorts of deceptive doctrines that float around which may be
popular in the world but they are not the message of the apostles.
• John helps take us back to the basics so that we have confidence regarding
what is obvious Christianity.

And I suppose another reason is because it helps us to evaluate ourselves and the very basis of our fellowship.

• The fact remains that there have always been those who seek to join the
physical fellowship of the church, who have not joined the spiritual fellowship.

When we clarify the message of Jesus, which was given to the apostles,
And which became the foundation of the church, it helps us.
• We CLARIFY the gospel we preach
• We EXPOSE what is the false gospel
• We find the right CRITERIA for self-evaluation

John is certainly filled with love for the church.
John is also dogmatic about what is the church and what is not.

The church has always been totally open to any who will come.
But the church is always absolutely unyielding regarding how you come.

You might say that anyone is welcome to enter the pasture with the sheep,
But you can only enter through one gate.

John is helping us see then what is true and what is not
So that we may learn who is true and who is not.

This helps us spot deceivers and anti-christs
But it also is a powerful reminder for each of us to examine ourselves.

BUT YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THE MESSAGE IS IMPORTANT.

Well we started looking at it last week.
(5) “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

And to that we saw the first point of the message.
#1 GOD IS HOLY
1 John 1:5-6

That should not be shocking to you.
This has been the fact from the beginning.
• There is no darkness in God at all.
• There is no shred of wickedness or evil.
• There is no hint of immorality or depravity.
• There is not one ounce of deception or distortion.

God dwells in unapproachable light.

And from a gospel message standpoint it reiterates the fact that
GOD IS SEPARATE FROM SINNERS.

• We talked about the veil and how man was not welcome to enter.
• We looked at Uzza and how God’s anger burned against him for touching the
ark.

And we even then looked at our FIRST LITMUS TEST.
(6) “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

Fellowship is a sharing in common life.
If I live in sin I have no basis to claim that I have common life with God.

A man who is content to dwell in immorality
And yet claim that he shares the common spiritual life of God is a liar,
Because God has never been content to dwell in immorality.

God has never fellowshipped with darkness.
God has never fellowshipped with sin.
He never has and He never will.

So we get the first aspect of the message and we get the FIRST TEST.

If someone is preaching a gospel that omits the holiness of God
• Then they are not preaching the gospel because that is the message that John heard from Jesus and delivered to the church.

If someone claims to have fellowship with God but they live in willful sin
• Then that person is lying because God has never fellowshipped with darkness.

WELL THIS MORNING let’s look at the next leg of this message which the apostles heard and delivered.
#2 JESUS SAVES
1 John 1:7

Now first, we must see the counter point to what we read in verse 6.

Verse 6 reminded us that those who “walk in the darkness…do not practice the truth;”

However in verse 7 we see the difference of a true believer.
“but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

The language here is familiar.
• In the Old Testament we see the fundamental command of God: “You shall be holy as I am holy”
• Jesus said, in Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

And here from John we see that same statement again:
“if we walk in the Light AS HE Himself is in the Light”
• It is the same point.
• It is the same command.

You spot a liar by the fact that they walk in darkness (sin)
You spot a believer by the fact that they walk in Light (righteousness)

And that SHOULDN’T BE A SURPRISE to you either.
This again is basic Christianity.

• If a person claims to have the life of God in them then their life should in some
way depict the life of God.

• If we know that God has no darkness at all then it only stands to reason that a
life in darkness does not have the life of God.

• And it also stands to reason that if the life of God is in a person that the person
should demonstrate the Light or holiness of God.

THAT ISN’T COMPLICATED IS IT?

IT HAS BEEN FORGOTTEN.

I told you how the Gnostics believed a handy doctrine called DUALISM which said that there was no link between the spiritual and the physical.
• The spirit was good but the physical was evil.
• And because they were separate you could basically do whatever you wanted in the physical because it didn’t matter.

Can you hear John pointing out how Obviously Unchristian that is?

But WE NEED that same reminder today.

Do you want basic Christianity?
Christians should live like Christ.

Is that same radical new thought? Of course not!

BUT TODAY we have people who willfully live in all sorts of habitual sin
And yet claim to be Christian.

Our world is overcome with sexual immorality.
(It’s the big one that comes to mind)

And yet the church is increasingly turning a blind eye to it as though you can live in sexual immorality and still be considered a Christian.

I know the real hot button topic would be HOMOSEXUALITY.
• Churches across our land are opening wide the doors to say that you can live in homosexual sin and still be a considered a Christian.

THAT IS SORT OF THE EASY TARGET.
• But what about teenagers who live in sexual immorality?
• What about the growing number of pregnancy among unwed mothers?
• What about the rise and addictions of pornography?
• What about the new fad of unmarried couples living together?

Can a person really unapologetically live in such conditions
And still claim to have fellowship with the Father?

John would absolutely balk at such a notion.

But it’s not like sexual sin is the only sin.

When Jesus redeemed a man did He not redeem the tongue?
• Does a Christian really talk with profanity?
• Is slander or gossip or lying the common talk of one who is redeemed?

When Jesus redeemed a man did He not address his greed?
• What are we to do with the fascination with gambling?
• Does a Christian really stand in line buying lotto tickets or live it up in Vegas?
• Are Christians not saved from their greed for the things of this world?

Paul pretty much spelled it out didn’t he?
Galatians 5:19-24 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Our culture has certainly sought to blur the lines,
But from John’s perspective is easy to see true Christianity.

Christians walk in the Light not in the darkness.
Christians walk in holiness not in sin.

And again we are NOT SAYING that Christians never sin,
They most certainly do.
WE AREN’T SAYING that Christians
• Never commit sexual sin,
• Or that they never sin with their tongue,
• Or that they never demonstrate greed.

They sometimes do.

What we are talking about is
The ongoing and unrepentant practice of such sins.

John is clear that Christians don’t walk in darkness, they walk in Light.
THIS IS THE CRITERIA.

Where did John get such a radical idea as that?

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you…”

John got this message from Jesus.
John 3:19-21 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Jesus said it first.
• People who love evil hate light.
• People who hate evil love light.

John isn’t telling you anything you’ve never heard before,
He is merely giving you what is OBVIOUS CHRISTIANITY.

AND IT IS that genuine believers who share the common life of God are those who “walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light”

• Those are the ones who “have fellowship with one another,”
• Those are the ones who share that common spiritual life.
• That is the church.

IS IT RADICAL TO SAY that the church is recognized in the world by her holy living?
• That is Christianity 101 again.
• God is holy and so God’s people live holy lives.
• There is nothing radical about that.

But the bigger question is WHY?

Why is it that those who share common life with God live holy lives?
Why is it that God’s people live holy?

Is it because they are just more committed?
Is it because they were just raised better?
Is it because they are just more moral at their core?

Of course not!

The reason the church can be recognized by her holiness is because
“the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

And this brings us to that second point.
JESUS SAVES

At this point I would have to ask you the fundamental question:
SAVES YOU FROM WHAT?

You could say “from hell” which is what most would say.
• And that’s not wrong, but think deeper.

• Why is hell a threat to you?
• Because the Holy God you offended has promised to send sinners to hell.

So you say, “Oh well then He came to save us from the wrath of God”
• And that’s not wrong either, but think deeper.

• Why is God angry?
• Why will God send men to hell?

SIN

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…”

Sin is that which falls short of God’s holy standard.
Sin is that which is rebellion against the will of God.
Sin is that which is an offence to the Creator.
And the consequence of sin has always been death.

God told Adam if you touch that tree or eat from it you will die
AND ADAM DID DIE.
• And so has all of Adam’s descendants who follow in his footsteps.

• It is sin that offends a holy God.
• It is sin that causes that holy God to send men to hell.
• It is sin that kept God behind a veil which you could not enter.

But the glorious message of the gospel is that Jesus came to save us.

HOW DOES JESUS SAVE US?
THROUGH HIS BLOOD HE CLEANSES US

“the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

THAT IS THE DISTINCTION
Between those in the church and those outside the church.

• THOSE OUTSIDE the church have not been cleansed.
• THOSE INSIDE the church have been cleansed, are being cleansed, and will be totally cleansed.

Think about it like this.

You have two boys who are both filthy from playing all day in the dirt.
• You tell them to go take a bath.
• They both come back and tell you that they took a bath.
• But one of them is still dirty.

Obvious that one of them never got in the bath.

THAT IS JOHN’S POINT
• A person can say they are cleansed from sin,
• But if they are still covered in sin they are lying.

Jesus doesn’t hypothetically cleanse His church from sin,
He actually and effectively does it.

HOW DOES JESUS CLEANSE US?

John says it is by His “blood”
“the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

That is such a strange statement.
• We actually sang last Sunday, “Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”
• If I take you outside this morning and throw a bucket of lamb’s blood on you, I seriously doubt you’ll feel clean.

But John clearly says that it is through His blood
That Jesus cleanses us from our sin.

The Old Testament makes it clear
That God requires blood because the life is in the blood.

Genesis 9:4 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Leviticus 17:11 “‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’

Leviticus 17:14 “For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’

• The wages of sin was not to give blood, the wages of sin is death.
• Jesus didn’t just bleed, Jesus died.
• He offered His life to God.
• He was killed to make atonement for our sin.

And through His sacrifice our offence has been covered.
By shedding His blood (dying) Jesus satisfied God’s wrath on our sin.
We are justified and forgiven before God.

But you will also notice that John
DID NOT speak of Jesus’ saving work in past tense.

He DID NOT say, “the blood of Jesus His Son CLEANSED us from all sin”
John said it “cleanses us” (present tense) – it’s ongoing.

Now there are a couple of things in play here.

ONE IS the Absolute Sufficiency of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

We’ve read it many many times.
John 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

Peter said:
Acts 3:18 “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

Hebrews 10:10 “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

All of those passages speak of the absolute completeness
Of what Jesus did on the cross.

Through that one offering He fully atoned for
All the sin of all the elect for all time.

The offering He gave to God extended backward
• To every believer since the beginning.
• It reached all the way back to Adam and Abraham and Moses and David and all the other Old Testament believers.

Romans 3:23-25 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;”

All of those Old Testament saints were sinners, and ALL THEY EVER HAD in their lives were animal sacrifices.
• God covered Adam with animal skins
• God provided a ram in the thicket for Abraham
• God gave Moses the sacrificial Law

But goats and bulls can’t take away sin,
So their sin was temporarily passed over.

It wasn’t until Jesus died that their sin was actually atoned for.
His death reached backward to cover all their sin.

But His death also REACHED FORWARD to cover all the sin of those who would believe in the future. (This is hard to fathom)

• That somehow, 2,000 years ago,
• God was already aware of all the sin that His elect would ever commit
• And He imputed that sin to Christ and Christ paid for it there too.

On the cross He was dying for sins that I would commit 2,000 years later.
On the cross He was dying for sins that I have yet to commit.

It is a mystery to say the least, but this is the message.

On the cross Jesus purchased total atonement
For all of those who did believe
And for all of those who would believe in Him.

This is the point of that cryptic statement at the end of the faith chapter.
Hebrews 11:39-40 “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”

• All of those Old Testament saints listed in the faith chapter “did not receive what was promised” (at least not in their lifetime).
• We were all perfected at the same time.
• Every Old Testament believer and every New Testament believer had their debt paid at the exact same time.

JESUS DID THAT.

SO WE ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT – Since Jesus’ death reaches forward, He is Still Cleansing His church.

• That is NOT to say that Jesus is still suffering, He is not.
• That is NOT to say that Jesus will die again, He will not.
• He finished it all on the cross.

But in the sense that some of my sin is still yet future,
Christ’s past work is still atoning for me now in the future.

So we can say that His blood still “cleanses us from all sin” because even the sin I have yet to commit is atoned for through His blood.

SO FOLLOW THE MESSAGE THAT JOHN RECEIVED FROM JESUS

GOD IS HOLY
• Because of our sin there is a separation
• No man is welcome to Him in our filthy state

BUT JESUS SAVES
• He came to cleanse us from our sin (past, present, future)
• So that we now are granted access to God through Him.

For those who have been justified through His death,
They alone are welcome to the Father.
AND THE POINT IS THAT JESUS IS STILL CLEANSING HIS CHURCH.

THERE IS NO PART OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS
THAT LEAVES THOSE HE IS SAVING IN ANY SIN AT ALL.

A GNOSTIC COULD SAY “That Jesus had atoned for their sin and given them a justified spirit and still claim that what they did in the flesh didn’t matter.”

THOSE ANTINOMIAN’S MIGHT SAY “That since we are saved by grace, it doesn’t matter if we live in sin.”

OUR WORLD TODAY MIGHT SAY “God loves me just as I am and He is not offended by my ongoing sin.”

THAT IS ALL HERESY.

John said, “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
“ALL SIN”

What Jesus does for the spirit or soul of man
Must manifest itself in the flesh of the man.

To put it another way.
It is absurd to think that Jesus came to justify sinners
And then leave them in their sin.

Jesus healed the man at the Bethesda pool and told him, “stop sinning”
Jesus rescued the woman caught in adultery and told her, “go and sin no more”

John 13:6-11 “So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

• Peter was clean, that is to say he was justified through Christ.
• But there was still dirt on Peter’s feet.

Christ wasn’t only interested in Peter’s heart,
He was also interested in Peter’s feet.

Jesus forgives us of our sin and then pulls us out of it.

After Jesus gave life to LAZARUS, what was his command?
John 11:44 “The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

• Jesus gave life to Lazarus and then Jesus commanded him to live it.
• He didn’t tell Lazarus to lay back down in the tomb.
• Get the grave clothes off and go live.

Listen to Jesus preach to the Jews:
John 8:31-36 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

I SUPPOSE I WOULD SAY IT LIKE THIS.

Jesus most certainly saves men from THE PENALTY of sin.
• We know that.
• He atoned for us.
• We are justified.

Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin.

He also saves us from THE POWER of sin.

Paul said it like this.
Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Romans 6:16-17 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,”

When Jesus died He didn’t just satisfy God’s wrath,
HE ALSO broke sin’s yoke on you.

• Believers at times are deceived and tempted into sin but they are never forced into it.
• While believers today do still at times succumb to temptation and fall into sin, it is not because they have to.

Christ saves us from the power of sin.

But listen, and this is important.

Christ also saves us from THE PRACTICE of sin.

This is the one that is often forgotten or omitted today
That is at the forefront of John’s mind.

While believers may stumble and at times fall into sin,
Sin is never the habitual practice of their lives anymore.

John will really harp on this later:
1 John 3:4-10 “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”

What does he mean?
He means that Christians live holy lives.

IF THAT SHOCKS YOU it is only because
You have been influenced by the reigning deceptive narrative of the day.

BUT I CAN PROMISE YOU
• From the beginning;
• From the time of Jesus;
• From the time of the apostles;
• From the formation of the church;
• It was always understood that Christians live holy.

NOT BECAUSE they are in and of themselves more committed or stronger.
• It is because Jesus has atoned for their sin before the Father.
• It is because Jesus has freed them from sin through His death.
• It is because Jesus is cleansing them from sin through His word and through His Spirit.

Did you know that this is one of the obvious marks of a Christian?
• Christians are those who are being sanctified.
• Christians are those who are being washed.

And now you understand John’s point.
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”

OBVIOUSLY!
• For one because God doesn’t fellowship with darkness.
• For two because Christ is cleaning His church from sin.

That is the message.
• God is Holy and on our own we could never approach Him.
• But Jesus saves and through His blood we are declared clean and being cleansed that we might gain access to the Father.

If you are living in sin, DON’T KID YOURSELF.
If someone says you can live in sin, DON’T BELIEVE THEM.
Jesus didn’t come to let sin survive.

He came to save us from all our sin.
And it is this that we have in common.

This morning we will gather around the Lord’s table to celebrate that.

Regardless of all our differences,
Those who have believed in Christ have this in common.

• We have been justified by the blood of Christ.
• We are being sanctified by the blood of Christ.

And this is also why the Lord’s Supper is ONLY FOR the Redeemed.
• If you have not believed in Christ.
• If you have not confessed Him publicly through baptism, do not partake, this is for the church.
• But if you have believed in Him partake and rejoice that what Jesus did, He did for us.

Through His blood He has atoned for our sin, freed us from it,
And is washing us clean from every stain.

And thus we now have access to God through Him.

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Manifesting Christmas
1 John 4:7-12
December 25, 2021

As you all know we have started studying through
The book of 1 John on Sunday mornings recently.

And last Sunday we studied what can be a difficult truth.
We are in chapter 1 and we talked about how “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

This is of course the first leg of the message
Which John heard from Jesus and now has announced to us.

AND IT IS A VERY IMPORTANT POINT.
• It is important for non-believers to understand the holiness of God.
• It is important for non-believer to know they have no access to God on their
own.
• It is important for phony believers to realize that you cannot live in sin and
simultaneously claim to have fellowship with God.

Those are necessary truths.
The truth of God’s holiness is the first leg of the gospel message.

And as I told you Sunday
It is the most omitted part of Jesus’ message today as well.

Our world would rather focus on God being a “God of Love”
What they really mean is “God of Tolerance”
• They proclaim a God who isn’t bothered by sin
• They proclaim a God who has no need to punish sin
• They proclaim a God who would rather just live in harmony with sinners

Such a God does not exist for, as John said,
“God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

So, to proclaim this love of God without also proclaiming His holiness
IS A TERRIBLE ERROR.

HOWEVER, to proclaim His holiness
Without also proclaiming His love is just as grievous of an error.

Tomorrow when we gather back together on the Lord’s Day
• We will continue in 1 John
• And see the second leg of the message
• Which is of course that Jesus cleanses sinners from the sin that offends God.

But this morning in this special Christmas sermon
We can sort of look at the unseen motive behind all of that.

What is it that caused a holy God to send His Son to cleanse sinners?

And you know the answer, it is LOVE.

It is perhaps the most well-known verse in the world.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

We are talking about the motive of love.

As I told you Sunday, the world erroneously thinks
That holiness and love are somehow incompatible.

And therefore the world routinely sacrifices the holiness of God
That they might uphold the love of God.

That is a grievous mistake.

God’s holiness and God’s love in fact COMPLEMENT each other.
• God’s holiness demands atonement for sin.
• God’s love provides that atonement.

• Without God’s holiness there is no need for God’s love.
• Without God’s love there is no satisfaction for His holiness.

God’s holiness also INTENSIFIES God’s love.

It is only when we understand
The height of God’s holiness and His offense at sin
That we can truly grasp the depth of God’s love
To atone for those who offended Him.

THEY WORK TOGETHER.

And since we looked at holiness on Sunday, it is only fitting, especially here on Christmas morning to take a moment and look at God’s love.

Now, in our study of 1 John we will eventually get to chapter 4
And we will study this text perhaps a little more meticulously.

But this morning, I simply want to hit a couple of the main points.

What is clear when you read the text is that
THE CHIEF AIM of the text is to promote brotherly love in the church.

John states his purpose at the outset.
(7) “Beloved, let us love on another”

That’s the aim, that’s the goal.

You see it again in verse 11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

So the chief purpose of the passage is clear.
By the time we are finished studying these verses, if we have understood them correctly, we should be loving one another.

That’s not hard to grasp.

But this morning we are also CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS and so there is an aspect here that we especially want to focus on this morning.

2 times in this text
We see reference to God sending His Son into the world.

(9) “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”

(10) “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

For what it’s worth if you look down to verse 14 in the chapter you’ll see it again. (14) “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”

But there is a clear reference to this miracle of the incarnation.

There is a clear mention by John that God sent His Son into the world.
That is the very essence of what we celebrate at Christmas.

From Christ’s perspective we focus on the humiliation of the incarnation.
• Namely that He would empty Himself of glory.
• That He would take on human form.
• That He would take the mantel of a servant.
• That He would submit Himself to the Law.
• That He would die on the cross.
• That He would rise from the dead.

And that will forever cause us to marvel.

And at times we look at Christmas from the FATHER’S PERSPECTIVE
• And we contemplate the sacrifice He made to actually send His Son from
Heaven to earth.
• And we contemplate the great love behind such a sacrifice.

What manner of love is it that causes a Father to send His Son
Into enemy territory and ultimately to sacrifice His Son
In order that He might save those enemies?

• Those who are offensive…
• Those who are rebellious…
• Those who are not welcome to enter His presence…

And yet the Father sends His Son into the world to save them.

There is an element of love here that must be recognized.

So first, let me draw your attention to verse 10.

Let’s talk about this great love of the Father on our behalf.
(10) “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

John says, “In this is love”

That is to say, “If you want an accurate example of what love is, then look at this.”

Our world is full of fallen and corrupt examples of love.
Our world is full of distortions.

But if you really want to see a true and accurate picture of love,
Then look here.

“In this is love”

And then John makes sure you are aware of something.
It is something that goes deeper than the actual act itself.

John wants to make sure that
You are aware of the unworthiness of the object.

He says, “not that we loved God”

You just have to love the COMMON LINGO of our world sometimes.

We see relationships come to an end and inevitably one person will say to the other,
“I just don’t love you anymore”

What they are actually saying is: “I have no longer deemed you worthy of receiving my love”

Love is a sacrifice; love comes with a cost.
And in our world when the person you are in a relationship with fails to be worth the sacrifice or the cost then they are cast aside as no longer worthy of love.

Well John wants you to understand from the outset
That the love which God demonstrated was not for those who deserved it.

It’s easy to love people who love you.
• But God set His love on people who didn’t love Him.
• He didn’t love people who loved Him, He loved people who needed His love.

We are talking about the VOLITIONAL aspect of God’s love.

There was nothing external that compelled God to love those He loved.
There was no loveliness in the object.

God loved of His own free volitional will.
God loved because He chose to love.

In fact, John sort of makes these two profound theological statements early in the text.

(7) “for love is from God”
• Which is to say that love is unique to Him.
• He is the only source of it.
• It only comes from Him.

(8) “God is love”
• Which is also profound.
• Everything God does is love.

Our world is constantly trying to take their definitions of love
And cast them on God, but love doesn’t define God.
God defines love.

I’ve heard many a person argue against things like election or predestination by saying, “God wouldn’t choose because that’s not love”

Well if God does it, it is love because God is love.
It could be that your definition of love is wrong.

But the simple point here is that
God is loving people who do not deserve it simply because He chose to.

God is loving people who do not love Him because that is who He is.

In His holiness He has no fellowship at all with sinners
So in His love He works to cleanse them
And bring them back into fellowship.

If He were only holy
• He would merely read His Law to sinners,
• Pronounce them guilty,
• And then throw them in hell where He satisfied Himself in the death of His enemies.

But He is also loving
• So He uses His Law to warn sinners
• And sends His Son to save them from their sin.

It is a love that takes no pleasure in the death of His enemies.

So again we understand His holiness demands atonement
And His love provides it.

And it is all purely part of HIS VOLITIONAL WILL to do so.
He is not loving those who deserve it.

It is “not that we loved God”

AND HERE IS THE DEMONSTRATION OF HIS LOVE.
“that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Merry Christmas!

This Holy God, who was offended by and separated from sinners,
In love sent those sinners a Savior.

And to begin to grasp the DEGREE of His love
You have to see the VALUE of the One He sent.

• God didn’t send Satan to die.
• God didn’t send an angel to die.
• God didn’t split humanity down the center and say, “I’ll kill half of humanity on behalf of the others”

God sent “His Son”
In verse 9 He is called “His only begotten Son”

He sent the most prized.
He sent the most valuable.

1 Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

The love of God spared no expense.

Not only was God’s love volitional, it is also SACRIFICIAL.

THIS IS LOVE!
It pays the highest price for the most unworthy object.

• That is what God did when He sent His Son into the world.
• That is what God did at Christmas.
• God paid the highest price for the most unworthy object.

NO ONE FORCED HIM TO DO IT.
No one compelled Him to do it.
It wasn’t done out of some sense of loneliness or lack of fulfillment.

God didn’t need to do it.

I hate that lyric in that song, “You didn’t want heaven without us so Jesus You brought heaven down.”

That is blasphemous.

The theological term is called GOD’S ASEITY
• It means that God is totally self-sufficient.
• He doesn’t need us.
• He doesn’t need anything.
• He didn’t need creation.
• He didn’t need humanity.
• He didn’t need us in heaven.

God wasn’t trying to fill some hole in His heart
By creating and saving humans.
He was and is totally self-sufficient and fulfilled in His own person.

God’s love is totally uncoerced.
• He loved the unworthy because He wanted to love.
• He didn’t need it, we did.

And when He loved He went all out.
• He paid the highest price for the most unworthy object.

Romans 5:7-8 “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”

Titus 3:3-6 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

This is certainly what we recognize and celebrate at Christmas.
• We worship God because He is love.
• We thank God for the love He showed.
• We come and rejoice and sing and worship because of the love which God has shown to us who do not deserve it.

He “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
That means “appeasement” or “satisfaction” or “covering”

Christ was sent by the Father to satisfy our offense.
Christ was sent by the Father to cover our sin.

• He bore our sin and the judgment that accompanied it.
• He suffered death on our behalf that our sin might be atoned for and God’s
holiness might be satisfied.

That was the great gift of love we received at Christmas.
That God sent His Son to save the world by covering their sin.

THAT IS WHY WE ARE HERE THIS MORNING.
We come in celebration of the greatest gift we ever received.

But there is MORE I want you to see this morning.

I told you that the text is actually about our calling to love one another.

Christmas is more than theological it is meant to be transformational.

You certainly should marvel at the great love of God,
But you don’t stop there.
You are supposed to marvel and then manifest His love.

Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

That is what I want you to see this morning.
We titled this sermon “Manifesting Christmas”

Let me show you what I mean.

Look now at verse 9
“By this the love of God was manifested in us”

Stop there for a moment.
Pay special attention to the words “in us”
• John doesn’t say God’s love was manifested TO us, but “IN us”

“manifested” there is PHANEROO
It means “to make known what has been hidden”

In this case it is “the love of God”

The world doesn’t understand love
Because the world doesn’t understand God.
THE WORLD HAS NO CONCEPT OF LOVE.

So God is putting love on display.
Certainly He put it on display at Christmas and Calvary.
But God is still putting it on display.

God is still making love manifest to the world.
HOW?
By putting it in you!

“By this the love of God was manifest in us”

God is putting His love on display through you.

“By this the love of God was manifest in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”

John is here giving you the INTENT of Christmas.

God sent His Son.
• God did it of His own volitional free will.
• God sacrificed greatly to do it.
• He sent Him “into the world”

And the purpose was clear.
“so that we might live through Him”

That is to say so that we might be partakers of the life of God.

Remember what we have said about fellowship for the last several weeks?
• It is a sharing in common life.
• The life of God in us.

Well if God is love and God’s life in us, then what has God put in us?
LOVE!

That is why John can say at the beginning of this text:
• (7b) “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
• (8) “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love”

When Christ saved you, He gave you life.
He gave you the love of God.

And part of that intent was so that you might show the world that love.

Look at verses 11-12
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

The world doesn’t know God.
The world doesn’t see God.

Where are they going to see Him?
Where are they going to see His love?

IN YOU!

So, “Beloved, let us love one another”

The expectation is NOT that you would
Simply marvel at the great love of God on your behalf,
But that you would put it on display to the world.

That you would love volitionally, as God did.
• That means loving the unlovable
• That means loving those who don’t love you
• That means loving without compulsion

And that you would love sacrificially, as God did.
• That you and I would also pay the highest possible price for the least valuable object.

The world doesn’t do that.
The world doesn’t understand that.

The first time the world ever saw it was when Christ came to this world.
But now Christ has returned to the Father.

And the only chance this world has of seeing it today
Is when you and I put it on display for them.

This is what it means to Manifest Christmas.

And that is MY ENCOURAGEMENT to you this morning.

Certainly we MARVEL at the love of God shown at Christmas.
But we must also MANIFEST the love of God shown at Christmas.

And we do that when we volitionally and sacrificially love one another.
That’s the only way our world will ever see who God is.

So go put God’s love on display
By sacrificially loving someone who doesn’t deserve it.

Download Here:

The Message of Jesus – Part 1
1 John 5:5-10 (5-6)
December 19, 2021

This morning we move forward in our study of 1 John.

We have called this study “Obvious Christianity”
For that is exactly what John is bringing to the forefront in this epistle.

The church had been bombarded with many deceivers.
• John says that many “anti-christs” have appeared.
• They are pummeling the church with lies and deceptions and false doctrines
• Regarding the person of Christ, the reality of fellowship, the Christian lifestyle

It is apparent that the deceptions were of such a nature that
John was compelled to write this epistle to set the record straight.

John’s primary tactic is simply to remind the church
Of what is obviously true and what is obviously false.

And we are grateful for such clarity
Since WE ALSO LIVE in a world where deception abounds.

John began his epistle with a reminder about FELLOWSHIP

If you missed that segment it is important that you simply understand
• When the Bible speaks of fellowship we are NOT simply talking about people who get together and laugh and eat food.

The fellowship John is talking about is the fellowship of the Spirit.
IT IS COMMON SPIRITUAL LIFE.

John 17:20-23 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

That passage is often read during a discussion of unity,
But it is the same thing John is talking about.

It is unity based upon common spiritual life.
And this is also Christian fellowship.

John opened his epistle with a discussion on the JOY of FELLOWSHIP
There is no other joy like it on this earth.

The spiritual fellowship through our common spiritual life
Is a tighter and more enjoyable bond
Than can be achieved anywhere else on this earth.

There is no greater or more satisfying relationship than this.
(Because this is a fellowship of spiritual life)

John reminded us of THE MEANS through which this fellowship came about.

1 John 1:3 “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

John and the rest of the apostles where given all of the truth about Christ.
• Certainly they have the relational truth of having physically lived with Him
• But they also were given the full revelation of the Holy Spirit regarding Jesus.

John 16:12-15 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Jesus promised that the apostles would get it all.
And they did.

And John says we then relayed it all to you.
“so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

So if we could quickly SUMMARIZE what John taught us last week.

To be a part of the church is nothing short of
Sharing in the common spiritual life which is in the Father and the Son.

We all got it.
• There are no tiers to Christianity…
• There are no membership levels…
• There are not “haves” and “have-nots”…
• There are not “those in the know” and “those who don’t know”…

If you have believed in Christ,
You were given the same life that the apostles received
Which is nothing less than the very life of God.

And our fellowship is that common bond.

That is really the true blessing and joy of the church.

And if you’ll just think on that for a moment,
There is no other organization in the world like the church.

Think about her for a moment.

THE CHURCH:
• Is Chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)
• Predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29)
• Is Built by Jesus (Matt 16:18)
• Purchased by His blood (Acts 20:28)
• Powered by His Spirit (Acts 1:8)
• Entrusted with His gospel (Matt 28:19)
• The pillar and support of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15)

• Is The bride of Christ (Eph 5:25)
• The body of Christ (Col. 1:18)
• Is The flock of Christ (John 10:11)
• The building of God (1 Cor. 3:9)
• She is a Kingdom of Priests (Rev. 1:6)

• Has been Baptized into His Death (Rom. 6:3)
• And has been Resurrected into His Life (Rom. 6:4)
• She is Filled with His Spirit (Eph. 5:18)
• And Sealed for eternity (Eph. 1:13)

• Is Clothed in His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30)
• Displays power In weakness (2 Cor. 12:9)
• Is A Voice in the wilderness (Matt 3:3)
• Light in the darkness (Matt 5:16)
• Salt to the tasteless (Matt. 5:13)
• Encouragement to the hopeless (1 Thess. 5:11)
• A source of conviction to the godless (1 Pet. 4:4)
• She is a guide to the clueless (Phil. 2:15)

• Is Promised Pardon for every transgression (Rom. 8:1)
• And Freedom from every sin (Gal. 5:1)
• She receives Mercy every morning (Lam. 3:22-23)
• And Love that never fails (1 Cor. 13:8)
• She is promised Grace in every trial (2 Cor. 12:9)
• Peace that surpasses comprehension (Phil. 4:7)
• And Hope that will not disappoint (Rom. 5:5)

• Shares in Christ’s suffering (Phil. 1:29)
• But Perseveres to the end (Jude 1:24)
• Will Overcome the evil one (Rev. 12:11)
• Inherit the world (Matt. 5:5)
• Reign in glory (2 Tim. 2:12)
• Live forever (John 11:25-26)
• See God (Matt. 5:8)

There is no other organization like her in the world.
There is no greater joy than to be a part of the fellowship of the church.

BUT these realities have also made her the CHIEF TARGET of the enemy.

The apostle Paul made a unique and profound statement
In his letter to the Colossians.

Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

Paul is NOT SAYING that in some way Christ didn’t suffer enough.
• Christ most certainly did finish all His required suffering.
• Christ totally satisfied the wrath of God
• And thus secured salvation for all who believe in Him.

But while Christ did satisfy the wrath of God
He did not satisfy the wrath of Satan.

Satan is not yet finished persecuting Christ.
• But since Christ is no longer on the earth, his focus is now turned to His bride.
• And that is what Paul is referring to.

The church suffers today because she is so unique.
• She suffers because she is the bride of Christ.
• She suffers because she shares in common spiritual life.

And Satan has never stopped attacking her.
• Sometimes those attacks are outward and of a physical and violent nature.
• Sometimes those attacks are internal and of a deceptive and destructive
nature.
• But he never stops attacking Christ’s bride.

Her unique privilege also makes her hated.

The attacks John addresses in this epistle are those INTERNAL attacks.

The church is the most amazing fellowship to be a part of
So it is no wonder that Satan sought to infiltrate it.

And that is what you are SEEING NEXT in John’s epistle.
• The first 4 verses reminded us of the joy of fellowship.
• This next segment points to the imposters who have tried to enter it.

Before we start just working through the text,
LET ME SHOW YOU THOSE IMPOSTERS FIRST.

They are actually easy to see in the text because John identifies each of them
With the phrase “If we say…”

In other words, there is a bit of a litmus test.
Not everyone who associates with the fellowship of the church is actually part of the fellowship.

There are those whose fellowship is only a physical fellowship.
• They attend…
• They gather…
• They sing…
• They outwardly participate…

They are a part of the physical aspect of fellowship,
But they are not a part of the true spiritual fellowship.

They are non-believers who outwardly associate with the church.
They don’t have the life of God within them
So there is no true spiritual fellowship.

From the earliest formation of the physical church this has been a reality.
• There have always been tares that were sewn among the wheat.
• There have always been those spiritual apostates who masquerade in the church.

Some do it MALICIOUSLY, some do it IGNORANTLY,
Some do it APATHETICALLY,
But they have always been there.

Jude told us how to handle them.
Jude 20-23 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”

While the primary model is that evangelism is to take place outside the walls of the church, the reality is that at times evangelism must also take place inside.

There have always been, and I suppose there will always be,
Those inside the church who are yet unredeemed,
And we seek to preach the gospel to them so that they may be saved.

But how do you know which is which?

That’s a good question.
• Especially if they are those who claim to be Christians…
• Especially if they are those who may have even been baptized…

John gives lot of tests to help us see it
And part of this text does just that.

John shows us 3 imposters here and I’ll show you them right off the bat.
• THE FRAUD (6)
• THE DELUSIONAL (8)
• THE BLASPHEMER (10)

THE FRAUD
(6) “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”

We’ll talk more in a moment about what that fully means, but simply put you see that they are lying about their fellowship with God.

They say they have it but they don’t.

And we know they don’t because they “walk in the darkness”.

THE DELUSIONAL
(8) “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

Simply put, this is the person who is self-deceived.
When they look in a mirror they wear rose-colored-glasses.

They think themselves to be “a good person”
And are LACKING the necessary HUMILITY and REPENTANCE
That is an absolute staple of the Christian life.

THE BLASPHEMER
(10) “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

The distinction here is that not only does this person think themselves to be good but they also ignore God’s testimony to the contrary.

• They ignore God’s word and His judgments.
• They are their own standard for truth
• So they are also void of humility and repentance.

THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT IN THE FELLOWSHIP.

• That doesn’t mean they don’t claim to be.
• That doesn’t mean they don’t attend worship services.
• That doesn’t mean they don’t volunteer and serve.
• That doesn’t even mean that in some cases they aren’t even in the pulpit.

They are physically present but they are not actually part of the church.

We might say that their name is on the church roll
But it is not in the Lamb’s book of life.

And these are the ones that John will call the church to watch out for.
• These are the deceivers.
• These are the anti-Christs

And if you are following JOHN’S REASONING,
The reason they are not part of the fellowship
Is because they have failed to respond appropriately
To the message of the apostles.

WE SAID IT LAST WEEK,
How does a person get invited into the fellowship?

1 John 1:3 “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

A person enters the fellowship of the church
When they hear and believe the message of the apostles.

We call it “the gospel”.

When you hear and believe the gospel
You also are granted the same spiritual life
And are granted access into the fellowship of the church.

Those who are the imposters either never heard that message
Or they heard it and have not truly believed it.

And since THE MESSAGE PLAYS THE CENTRAL ROLE in this process
John now will give it to you again.

Notice what he says in verse 5
“This is the message…”

Is that clear enough for you?

John said earlier that “what we saw and heard we proclaimed to you”,
But you know there’s always that guy in the back of the room who says,
“Wait! What? I wasn’t paying attention. What was the message again?”

So John spells it out.
“This is the message…”

More specifically “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you…”

This is not our message, this is Christ’s message.
Jesus came to this earth and He preached to us the gospel.
• He told us everything we needed to know pertaining to life and godliness.
• He gave us the message.

The Holy Spirit reiterated and clarified and brought that message back to our memory so that we could share it with you.

This is the message of Jesus.
This is the message of the church.

This is the truth that must be believed
If one is to be saved and enter the true fellowship of the church.

“This is the message…”
• This is the message that produces fellowship.
• This is the message that exposes imposters.
• This is the message of Jesus which became the message of the apostles and has now become the message of the church.

Are you ready for it?

#1 GOD IS HOLY
1 John 1:5

• How is that for Christianity 101?
• How is that for obvious truth that you’ve always known?

I’m telling you, John desires to make it simple.

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

If you just want simple Christianity
Then even a child can understand the analogy that
“God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

Even if we want to keep this on a simple level
We understand the difference between LIGHT being a picture of good
And DARKNESS being a picture of evil.

There’s nothing overly cryptic about the statement.
There is a surface level truth to be easily gleaned there.

But there is also some depth which is perhaps why John says
“God is Light” instead of just saying that God is holy.

So let’s talk about the wording John uses for a moment.

Light can be a reference to good in contrast to evil.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

• You think about evil deeds being called “deeds of darkness”

So to say that “God is Light” is a reference to His goodness.

Light can be a reference to hope in contrast to hopelessness.

Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.”

• Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel”

To say that “God is Light” is reference to Him as our hope and salvation.

Light can also be a reference to understanding in contrast to ignorance.

1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”

• We might say, “So and so was kept in the dark”

So to say that “God is Light” is a reference to His omniscience and truth.

Light is also a reference to life in contrast to death

In the opening chapter of John’s gospel he wrote:
John 1:4-5, 9 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it…There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”

There is a link for John with the Life and the Light.

Remember Jesus’ statement?
John 8:12 “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

• There again you see Jesus almost use the statements interchangeably.
• There is a sense in which Light is a reference also to Life.

So to say that “God is Light” is a reference to the fact that
He is the giver and source of spiritual and eternal life.

So in a basic sense to say that “God is Light”
Is a reference to His HOLY NATURE, His SAVING HOPE,
His OMNISCIENCE, and as the source of SPIRITUAL LIFE.

And John goes even further when he says:
“God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

That means that there is never even a shred of darkness in God at any time or in any amount.
• God is never evil or sinful
• God never fails or falls short
• God never sits in ignorance or lies about anything
• God never brings spiritual death

God is always holy and never anything else.

Now what we also then understand is that
Man, on his own, is none of those things.

Man is not naturally good, he is evil.
Romans 3:10 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;”

Man has no natural hope for salvation.
Ephesians 2:12 “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Man has no true wisdom of the things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

Man has no life within himself.
Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death…”

So while God is holy and never anything else,
Man is evil and never anything else.

So what is clear to us from the outset, when you want to go a little deeper
Is that there is A CLEAR SEPARATION between God and man.

• Man was created good…
• Man was created in the image of God…
• But man fell into sin and with that sin came hopelessness and ignorance and death.

This is very basic and obvious Christianity.
GOD IS HOLY AND MAN IS NOT.

They are separated.

And you have seen this separation throughout the Bible.

From the beginning in the garden we saw it.
• We saw Adam and Eve removed from the garden and never permitted to enter again.

We saw events like Isaiah seeing God on His throne and wanting to claw out his own eyes because he knew he did not belong there.

But the greatest depiction of this great separation came in the form of the veil.

When the writer of Hebrews described the physical appearance of the earthly tabernacle he then told us what it signified:
Hebrews 9:6-8 “Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing,”

In other words, that veil had one message.
“OFF LIMITS”

You are not welcome here.
There was a separation between a holy God and sinful man.
GOD IS HOLY

He is not like you.
You are not like Him.

1 Timothy 6:15-16 “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.”

There is a separation.

And John says “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you…”

This is Christianity 101
• God is holy
• He is separated above sinners
• He is above us
• He is beyond us
• There is a great divide and on your own you cannot get to God.

Jesus preached this!

John 8:21-27 “Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.”

Jesus came preaching the message of the Father
That apart from salvation men would die in their sins
And would never make it to the Father.

He is holy and they are not.

THE MESSAGE STARTS HERE.

Certainly in John’s day the Gnostics had distorted the truth of God
Into someone less than holy,
But this happens in our day as well.

The emphasis in our day
Has shifted away from the holiness of God.

Today God is primarily depicted as “A God of Love”
(Which He is, but the love they talk about is distorted
Because they do not know about His holiness)

The love they talk about is better defined as “tolerance” not love.
Biblical love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth
God’s love and holiness compliment each other, they don’t cancel each other out.

God today is rarely ever depicted as holy.
God is rarely ever depicted as set-apart.

Today,
• Sin isn’t even considered bad,
• That is if it even exists at all.
• And if salvation is even necessary it is only a salvation from disappointment.

Very few people today see the need to be saved from God.

After all, (they say)
• God is not angry.
• God is not disappointed.
• God is not offended.
• God is not holy.

God is loving and tolerant and open-minded.
• He’s sitting in the stands rooting for you
• He’s got a box of participation medals that He’s going to pass out to everyone in the end for being true to themselves.

I JUST WANT TO ASK YOU, Is that really the message of Jesus?
Is that really Christianity?

We just read that Jesus said, “you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

Jesus told those people that without Him
They had absolutely zero chance of making it to the Father.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

You can’t get to God without Him.

WHY?
Because God is Holy!
He is set apart and man cannot get to Him.

Man dare not approach Him on his own.

Ask Uzza; remember him?
1 Chronicles 13:7-10 “They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets. When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it. The anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.”

You don’t just approach God.
God is Holy!
He is separated from sinners.

THAT IS THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE.
IF ANYONE is preaching a different message than that,
Then they aren’t preaching the Christian message.

And again, this isn’t rocket science, this is OBVIOUS CHRISTIANITY.

And that is when we will approach our first deceiver.

It is the FRAUD we talked about in verse 6.

(6) “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”

This is a guy who says that has “fellowship with Him”
But he walks “in the darkness”

That is to say that He claims to have common spiritual life with God but…
• He lives in sin.
• He walks in sin.
• Implied here is that there is an acceptance of sin in his life.

He is sinning and he is cool with it.
Does that sound like Biblical Christianity to you?

Based on everything you’ve ever learned of God from the Scripture
Why in the world would you suppose that God
Would be in fellowship with a man who lived in sin?

When has God ever been in fellowship with sin?

Do you remember when Paul spoke to the Corinthians about being unequally yoked?

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.”

Most people apply that to marriage, which is unfortunate.
At it’s core it’s a reminder that God does not fellowship with sinners.

“what fellowship has light with darkness?”

SO THERE’S YOUR FIRST ASSESSMENT.
Just because a person attends church doesn’t make them in fellowship with God.

We have to dig deeper.
• Are they still in sin?
• Are they still in darkness?

See, (as we will see next time), Jesus came to save us from sin.
Jesus came to cleanse us.

That is the mark of being a part of the fellowship.
That Jesus takes sinners and cleanses them.

Remember Jesus telling Peter, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me”?

A man that is content to live in sin
And claim that He is part of the fellowship is a liar.

And the only reason that is even the least bit shocking to you
Is because there have been so many deceivers in our world who have tried to say that God doesn’t care if you sin or not.

This is OBVIOUS CHRISTIANITY

And this is the first leg of the obvious Christian message of Jesus.
God is holy and apart from the salvation of Jesus
You will never be in fellowship with Him.

But those who have come to Christ,
• Have been wrapped in the righteousness of Christ
• And are being cleansed of their sin daily
• And thus they are granted fellowship with the Father.

Those who have come to Jesus have left the darkness and come to the light:
• Through Christ they have left sin to pursue righteousness…
• Through Christ they have obtained the hope of salvation…
• Through Christ they have believed the truth of the gospel…
• Through Christ they have been granted true spiritual life…

But those who “walk in the darkness…lie and do not practice the truth;”

So as we clarify the fellowship just start there.
• God is Holy
• God is separated from sinners
• And the chief objective of men is to obtain holiness
• That they might be reconciled to this Holy God.

Don’t let the world’s deceptions
Distort what has always been obvious Christianity.

Without holiness you will never be reconciled to God.
This was the message of Jesus.

Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Next time we’ll talk about the next part of this message which reminds us that Jesus is the One who cleanses us so that we might be reconciled.

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Thinking About Hope
Psalms 119:81-88
December 12, 2021

Tonight we come to perhaps
The darkest moment of the entire 119th Psalm.

We’ve been actually DESCENDING to this point for a few stanzas.

We really first saw affliction show up on the scene 5 stanzas ago.

Psalms 119:50-51 “This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me. The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.”

It was sort of the beginning of affliction
And our Psalmist showed great poise and commitment.

And the affliction continued
Psalms 119:61 “The cords of the wicked have encircled me, But I have not forgotten Your law.”

Still the Psalmist held fast.

He even learned to appreciate his affliction as that which had a purifying effect on his life.
Psalms 119:67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.”

Psalms 119:71 “It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.”

He was doing his best to assign true redemptive value to the affliction
Which he had been walking through.

And even in the last stanza, though he didn’t understand why this affliction endured, he was still showing tremendous perspective that God knew what He was doing.
Psalms 119:75 “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”

But you see how this affliction has just sort of been hanging around.
• He has been committed
• He has tried to look at the bright side
• He has tried to make lemonade out of his lemons
• He has tried to walk in faith
• He has really focused on showing true perspective

And yet despite his commitment and prayer and perspective
The affliction has only gotten worse
And his circumstances have not seemed to improve.

And when we get to this stanza
We see that the Psalmist has HIT THE BOTTOM.

We covered this quite a bit last time, but I think it’s worth recapping a little here.

(81) “My soul languishes for Your salvation”

“languishes” there is KALAH
It means “complete, finished, or spent”
It is most often translated “finished”

What the Psalmist is saying is “My soul [is spent] for Your salvation”

“I’m done, I’m completely poured out, I’ve got nothing left”

He’s simply talking about that inner drive;
That determined fortitude that people exhibit.

Whatever that drive is to pick yourself up off the mat one more time,
The Psalmist says, I can’t any longer.

(82) “My eyes fail with longing for Your word”

It is a picture of a man who has sat by the window watching
Until he can’t watch any more.

Clearly when he says he is looking for “salvation” or “Your word”
He means that he is waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises.

• He actually says in verse 82 “When will You comfort me?”
• Later in verse 84, “When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?”

That is what he’s been looking for.
• He’s been watching for it.
• He’s been gazing at the horizon waiting for his Savior.
• He has been holding on by his fingertips as he watched for deliverance.

But it hasn’t come.
His soul is seemingly spent and his eyes can’t watch anymore.
He has been pushed to the brink by his affliction.

(83) “Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke…”

The picture there is of total ruin.
• Certainly on one hand he could be describing his physical appearance as dirty
and old, but it is more than that.
• Wineskins were made of new leather that was pliable and even that could
expand when needed.

He compares himself to an old wineskin that has been hanging in the smoke and now it is dry and cracked and totally ruined.

It is worthless for its intended purpose.

That is how he describes his life.
It’s as though the affliction has gone too far.
The tribulation has taken its toll.
He can’t imagine ever being fully restored at this point.

In verse 84 that frustration seems to sort of boil over.
“How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?”

That is to say, “I’m almost out of time”

It is likely that he is an old man and he realizes that
If deliverance doesn’t come soon then it will be too late.

You put all of that together and it is clear that
Though our Psalmist was once resolved to handle affliction the right way,
The deliverance has been much slower coming than he ever anticipated.
• He never thought he’d have to hold on this long…
• He never thought he’d still be watching…
• He never thought his ruin would be so extreme…
• He never thought his time would be so far gone…

And again he reminds God that his affliction has been incredibly severe.

(85) “The arrogant have dug pits for me,”

• That is to say they are setting traps for me everywhere.
• It’s not just one guy, it’s a lot of them.
• It’s not just one trap, they are everywhere.

(86) “They have persecuted me with a lie;”

• They continually attack me and lie about me.

(87) “They almost destroyed me on earth”

You can hear his frustration can’t you?

And, as we have said in recent weeks
I’m not sure if I know anyone who has walked with God
Who has not at some point reached such a level of frustration.

Affliction is difficult.
And even when we gear ourselves up to be ready to handle it, there have been many times that we were shocked when it endured longer than expected.

• We saw frustration like that in Job
• We saw frustration like that in Moses
• We saw frustration like that in Eljiah
• We saw frustration like that in Habakkuk
• We saw frustration like that in Paul

We certainly don’t want to make light of the degree of hardship our Psalmist has had to endure.

For 6 stanzas we have seen him doing his best to make the most of it,

But you get the feeling by the time we reach this stanza
That he is out of answers and he is past pretending it’s all ok.

• His soul is finished
• His eyes are failing
• His life feels ruined
• His time is up
• His affliction is real

That we see.

However, what we NOTICED THE LAST TIME we studied this Psalm and what we still recognize again is that his ENDURANCE HAS NOT FAILED.

In fact, we are seriously encouraged by his endurance.

LOOK AT IT.

(81) “My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.”

• His soul is finished, but he is still waiting.

(82) “My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, “When will You comfort me?”

• His eyes are failing but he is still watching for deliverance.

(83) “Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.”

• His life feels ruined but he still remembers God

(87) “They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts.”

• Obedience has become seriously dangerous, but he still does it.

And beyond that, look at his plan for the future.

(88) “Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.”

That’s endurance isn’t it?
• Waiting when you can’t wait any longer…
• Watching when you can’t watch any longer…
• Remembering when you don’t see any deliverance…
• Obeying when obedience gets you in trouble…
• Remaining committed when tomorrow is not promised…

That is tremendous endurance.

And THE LAST TIME we studied this stanza our MAIN FOCUS was in fact on the Psalmist’s endurance.

We read
Hebrews 10:35-39 “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”

• And we talked about the great faith that is required to endure as seen in the
faith chapter of Hebrews 11.
• We even talked some more about that perspective of Hebrews 12 about
understanding that God is bringing necessary discipline.

But this time, I want to peel back this Psalmist’s onion a little deeper.
The endurance is easy to see.
It sits right out there on the surface.

I want us to peel a layer back and see the power behind this endurance.

And so TONIGHT, as you notice by the title of the sermon,
We are going to think a little about HOPE.

At first glance that seems a little off
Since no where in this stanza is hope mentioned at all.

In fact, one could possibly argue that the Psalmist’s hope is fading.

After all statements like:
• “I have become like a wineskin in the smoke”
• “How many are the days of Your servant?”

Such statements might suggest that his hope is in jeopardy
He almost sounds like a man about to give up.

And yet, this is exactly why we are using this stanza to discuss hope.

It is possible that much of the time
When we think about the reality of hope
That we consider it purely on a human level.

The concept of hope is often attached to
That person with a positive attitude.

If we run across a person who is optimistic in their affliction we say, “They have lots of hope”

If we run across a person more like this Psalmist and who is a little negative we say, “They don’t have much hope”

Well that is true regarding the human aspect of hope.

As humans our hope is actually really fickle and even fragile.
• It can ebb and flow with the latest piece of information that we receive.
• We get a good report and we are hopeful and the very next minute we get a
bad report and our hope is gone.

That is NOT the kind of hope we want to discuss tonight.
We might call that “Human hope” or “Natural hope”

By that we DON’T MEAN that it is HOPE IN HUMANS for help
As though people with this hope aren’t trusting God.

No, we simply mean it is the hope that we muster within ourselves.
It is the hope that we produce based upon our reading of the circumstances.
It is the hope we sort of cling to by our own determination.

It is just natural hope or human derived hope

What we want to talk about is “SUPERNATURAL HOPE”

It is the hope that genuine believers possess (and get this)
That they may not even realize they have.

(That is why I picked this stanza to discuss it.)

I would tell you this.
While the natural hope of this Psalmist seems about to run out,
This Psalmist is actually gushing with supernatural hope.

HOPE IS NOT something that you as a believer are meant to concoct or produce or in some cases fake so as to put on a good show.

HOPE IS something that God supernaturally places into the heart of a believer.

Furthermore:
The EVIDENCE of these two types of hope are totally different.

• You tell if a person has natural or human hope by their demeanor or by the
positivity of their words.

But positivity is NOT the evidence that someone has supernatural hope.

• The evidence that someone has supernatural hope is endurance.

While you don’t see a lot of positivity from our Psalmist
You do see gobs of endurance.

That is sort of THE PREMISE that I want to throw out there to you.
Now let me show it to you.

I want to discuss with you 4 points as we think about hope.
• And I apologize in advance for this being sort of topical in nature,
• Tonight I’m really just using our Psalmist as an illustration
• But I’m going to take this liberty since we are working through this Psalm a second time and looking at things a little differently.

#1 BASIS FOR SUPERNATURAL HOPE

I told you that there is a difference between
Natural hope and supernatural hope.

I think perhaps the easiest passage to sort of see the difference
Comes from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.”

Cleary there Paul is speaking with reference to when someone dies.

Now, our world can have all kinds of hope before death
Namely that something may change and spare a person’s life.

However after death occurs that hope is totally gone.
All that remains at that point is a supernatural hope.

But you also see here that is NOT MANIFESTED by outward optimism.
Both parties in this scenario are grieving.

So we learn that a grieving Christian does not indicate a hopeless one.
• Just because they are sad…
• Just because they aren’t “optimistic”…
• That doesn’t mean they don’t have hope.

That is clear.

We are talking then about a supernatural hope
Which God places in a believer
And that which transcends emotion or feelings.

Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

• There Paul talks about abounding in hope “by the power of the Holy Spirit”

That is clearly not a natural hope, that is a supernatural hope.
It is hope that IS NOT driven by human fortitude,
It is a hope that IS driven by supernatural power.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.”

• There Paul calls it “good hope” and he says that it comes to us “by grace”

So we are talking about a supernatural hope
• It is a hope that is given to us by grace
• It is a good hope which strengthens us for work
• It is a hope that is not revealed through optimism but through endurance

It is far greater and far different
Than what the world typically identifies as hope.
(there’s your distinction)

But let’s talk some more about it.
#2 SUPERNATURAL HOPE CAUSES ENDURANCE

The passage I would point out to you here comes from the book of Romans.

Romans 8:24-25 “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

Now first we would point out again
This hope is not recognizable by positivity or “putting on a happy face”

We might call that “hope that is seen”
And that is the world’s kind of hope.

But Paul reminds that “hope that is seen is not hope”

It’s called hope but that’s not really what it is.

Supernatural hope is different.

And the point to be made here is that, though you don’t see it,
Supernatural hope is actually the engine behind your endurance.

Notice what Paul says:
“But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

Did you catch that?
“if we hope…we wait”

Now let me show you our Psalmist again.
(81-84) “My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word. My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, “When will You comfort me?” Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes. How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?”

I know he doesn’t mention hope at all.
But do you see him waiting? Yes

WHY?
Because he hopes for what he does not see.

NO ONE in the world would call him a person of hope
Because he comes across so negative.

But we don’t measure hope by positivity,
We measure hope by endurance and our Psalmist is full of endurance.

And whether he realizes it or not, the reason he endures
Is because he has been given supernatural hope from God.

He is having trouble seeing the hand of God in his affliction.
• He is looking forward to the future
• Trying to figure out when God is going to show up and bring deliverance.
• He can’t see the intervention of God.

That is because thus far God has been behind him
• Holding him up
• and supernaturally giving him the hope that produces endurance.

I don’t know if our Psalmist realizes that yet, but he is about to.

When you get to the next stanza notice what he will say:
Psalms 119:89-91 “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands. They stand this day according to Your ordinances, For all things are Your servants.”

Psalms 119:93 “I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have revived me.”

By the next stanza he will begin to realize that the secret to his endurance
Was not his own personal commitment to cling to God’s word,
But rather it was that God’s word was producing endurance in him.

In short, God was there all along providing hope through His word,
And thus causing our Psalmist to endure.

He thought his endurance was almost gone,
But in reality it was being supernaturally supplied to him
Through the grace of God and it was never actually in danger.

Supernatural hope causes endurance.

Now, since that is true, we can also then state the reverse as true.
#3 ENDURANCE PROVES SUPERNATURAL HOPE

The next question we might ask is:
How do I know if I have this kind of hope?
• How do I know if God is supernaturally pouring this “good hope” into my life?

Well again, it’s NOT necessarily positivity or smiling.
You will know that you have supernatural hope when you endure.

Endurance proves supernatural hope.

Let me show you another passage.
Romans 5:3-4 “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;”

Paul speaks of a scenario in which
You can actually begin to “exult” in your tribulations.

HOW?
It’s a progression.

“tribulation brings about perseverance”

Tribulation doesn’t cause perseverance but it does reveal it.

In other words, you don’t know how much perseverance you have
Until you are tested a little.

And when you endure the trial what does that reveal?
“and perseverance, proven character”

So you face a trial and you endure, what does that reveal?
That you are the real deal.

How does that prove you are real?
• Because where does endurance come from?
• What produces it?

Supernatural, God-given Hope right?
“if we hope…we wait”

And that is what Paul says next.
“and proven character, hope”

When I face a trial and I am able to endure it,
That DOES NOT PROVE to me that I am stronger than other people,
IT PROVES to me that God has done a supernatural work in my heart.

It is revealed to me that God has given me
That supernatural hope whereby I was able to endure the trial.

And that actually causes me to rejoice in my trial.

So follow me here a second.
1. There is a supernatural hope from God
2. This hope causes you to endure in affliction
3. And when you endure it proves that you have this hope

Now there is one more point to make about this hope
#4 HOPE WILL NOT DISAPPOINT

Let’s add one more verse to the one we just looked at

Romans 5:3-5 “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Paul just spoke about how it has been proven that you have this supernatural hope from God.
• God brought a trial into your life.
• You endured and proved yourself to be a recipient of God’s hope.

And then Paul says
“and hope does not disappoint”

“disappoint” there is KATAISCHYNO (ka-tie-schoo-no)

It literally means “dishonor” or “disgrace” or “to be ashamed”
It can even refer to “one whom hope has deceived”

2 Corinthians 7:14 “For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth.”

“put to shame” is the same word.

So what Paul is saying is this:
When you have this supernatural hope from God
Then you can be sure of 1 thing
THAT SHAME WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO YOU.

Once you learn that you are a recipient of God’s supernatural hope,
The hope that causes endurance,
You can rejoice that you will never suffer the humiliation of failing to endure.

Now think on that for a second.

When you contemplate all the possibilities of persecution and tribulation that could come upon you in this world does it cause at least a little anxiety that you might not be able to handle it?

• Have you ever read a book of martyrs?
• Christians have been treated pretty terribly at times in this world.
• And you read those stories and you wonder, “Can I do that?”
• Would I be able to endure that?

Well what is the answer?
YES!

Why, because you’re so strong?
No, but because you have a supernatural hope that will cause you to endure.

Look at what Paul says.
“hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

This hope will not fail you.

And then Paul explains it a little deeper.

Notice how Paul explains hope in your life
• He describes it as “the love of God” which has been “poured out” in your
heart.

DON’T MISREAD THAT.
It is NOT a reminder that God loves you, though He does.

The love that has been poured into your heart is a love for God.
God, through His Holy Spirit, has poured into your heart
A supernatural love for him that will hold fast through any tribulation.

Now, there is ONE MORE PASSAGE I want to show you here.

Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

People love the end verse about how nothing can “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And the most common explanation of that verse
Is that nothing can make God stop loving us.
Well that is certainly true, but that’s NOT what is being talked about here.

Look at the context.
Paul starts by asking a question:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”

Is Paul asking who will make Christ stop loving us?
Or is he asking: Who will make us stop loving Christ?

And this is important
Because one of those is actually a bit of a concern for me.

I’m not worried about Christ stopping to love me.
But what if I am facing a literal cross for Christ, will I love Him that much?

That’s a serious question
I’m aware of His commitment, the concern here is my commitment.

So which is Paul talking about?
Is he asking if Christ will stop loving me,
Or is he asking if I will stop loving Christ?

Well, keep going.
“Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Well based on that
The only possible scenario is that the second option is in view.

There is no way that me being persecuted
Is going to cause Christ to stop loving me,
The fear is if those things will cause me to fall away from Christ.

That is what Paul is asking.
Can “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” cause me to stop loving Christ?

That seems like a legitimate question
Since, as Paul notes, those things are happening.
“Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”

CHRISTIANS ARE BEING SO TREATED,
So if that can cause us to fall away then we have a problem.

But notice what Paul says.
He answers the question.

Can tribulation cause a child of God to quit loving Christ?
The answer: NO
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul says that we are winning that battle over and over every day!
We “overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us”

It’s not our strength that is producing the victory it is His strength.

But why?
Because we have “the love of God poured into our hearts”
And nothing can “separate us from the love of God”

Let me clarify it a little more.
• Do you know why you endure trials, even bad trials?
• Do you know why this Psalmist endured?

Because God gives a supernatural hope to His children.

What is this hope?
More specifically it is a supernatural love for God
That He pours into the hearts of his children
That causes them to hold fast to Him.

What other reason did this Psalmist have for holding fast to God?
Not a single expectation of his had been answered and yet he remained.

There was something supernatural going on
That perhaps even he was unaware of.

AND IT GETS EVEN BETTER
This love that you have been given is said to be “in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Do you understand it?
The love God pours into your hearts, the basis for your hope,
Is nothing less than the love that Jesus has for the Father.

That is why you have endured.
That is why you will endure.
That is why this Psalmist endured.

That is Christian hope.

It is much deeper than some sort of fortitude or stubbornness
Or positivity that the world might call hope.

Our hope is supernatural and it is given by God
So that you will endure even the strongest storms and trials.

• This Psalmist was emotionally spent
• But he endured because he had hope
• It was a supernatural hope God had given him
• It was a hope that would not let him fail