The Blessed Hope - Produces a Righteous Life 1 John 3:2-9
Introduction: The Book of 1 John is written to reveal what is a true
child. It by instructions presented the faith, character, and
live style of a true Christian. It explains:
1. The Faith of a true believer. He believes
in the deity of Jesus Christ, therefore his salvation in by faith in Christ’s
sacrifice for sin. 1 John 2.
2. The Character of a true believer. He is one who
loves his brother. The love of God is in his heart because God is there.
3. The Life Style of a true believer: He shuns and hates
sin, he confesses his sins and longs to live a righteous life looking forward
to the coming of the Lord.
I. THE TRUE CHRISTIAN WILL BE LOOKING FOR THE RETURN OF THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST. John 3:2
A. The Blessed Hope of the believers.
1. John says we do not presently
know what we shall like be in heaven, but we do know we shall be like Christ.
He again uses the endearing term “Beloved.”
a. John says the
“beloved” meaning his brothers and sisters in Christ are “NOW’ the sons of
God. It is a statement of assurance of salvation. This
is the whole of the purpose of this book. Professing Christians
are to examine their lives in light of what the Bible says a Christian will
be and if they have truly believed then proceed in the full assurance of
their salvation.
b. 1 John
2:20 says we have an “unction” which means spiritual insight because we have
received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God’s
children can understand spiritual things. It is not automatic but comes
from studying and accepting the word of God. 1 John 5:13 says:
“These things have I written unto you that believe on
the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and
that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
c. Note it is referring
to the written word of God that we receive our assurance.
We may feel at times like we are saved when we are in fellowship with the
Lord. Yet, others times we might not feel like we are saved, but that does
not change our relationship with Christ.
d. Once a person
is born again he is a child of God. That relationship will never change.
I am the son of by father....nothing can change that.
ILLUS: I have a half-uncle who when his mother died was raised by his aunt.
This half uncle later had his name changed to that of his aunt’s husband.
But that did not change who he was born as. He was born an Abrams....and
has Abrams blood in his veins and Abrams genes and looks like an Abrams.
He is an Abrams by birth and that cannot be changed.
2. The evidence John gives is that
when the child of God sees the Lord at the Rapture he will be like Christ
because he will see Christ as He is.
3. Christ in His resurrected body was
physically seen of men. He was material in that he could be touched.
His resurrected by was physical because he ate food and talked with His disciples.
His resurrected body was also spiritual
in that He appeared out of thin air in the upper room to His disciples.
B. Therefore John is saying the Christian at the resurrection
will receive a body like the Lord Jesus Christ’s. It will be
both physical and material.
II. WHERE THE BLESSED HOPE IS THERE WILL BE PURITY.
A. Remember that John is not only giving us information
about the Second Coming, but is presenting it in the context of examining
whether a man is a true Christian or not.
B. God is saying through John that if a man is truly saved
he will be longing for heaven and to be with the Lord. He will
look for Christ’s return and this will effect how he lives his life.
C. Carolyn and I are planning to go to Israel leaving
Oct. 15
and returning Oct. 25. The tour is sponsored by the Friends of
Israel who has arranged our passage and what we will do while there.
We are looking forward to going and planning to go so we are trying to get
ready. Interesting is the fact that the trip is a gift to us.
We did not deserve it and could not afford it, but a friend gave the all
expense paid trip to us.
1. We applied for Passports and have
them in hand. The plane fare to New York has been purchased because
that is where the trip begins.
2. Clothes have been purchased and
travel items.
D. You have been told we are going so we are getting ready.
You see the point? God has told us if we by faith received Jesus
Christ as our Savior then we are going to heaven.
1.
We will get there one of two ways.
2.
One for most will be that we will die and immediately be in the presence
of the Lord in Heaven.
2 Cor. 5:1, 6-10 “For we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in
this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which
is from heaven. . . . Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst
we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk
by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing
rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted
of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ;
that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that
he hath done, whether it be good or bad..”
3.
The other way is explained in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. It is referred
to as the Rapture. God says that the dead in Christ, meaning
those who died as Christians, will be resurrected at the Second Coming
of the Lord. Those that are alive on earth will be changed instantly
and both the dead and those alive will be “caught up” into the air to meet
the Lord.
The return of the
Lord for believers is always presented in God’s Word as being imminent.
Meaning it could happen at any time.
ILLUS: When I was in the Army I spent most of the last year in a Combat Signal
Company. We were what is called a Strike Unit meaning we could be deployed
anywhere in the world in 48 hours. We trained continually that if the
order to deplore came we would be ready to go. Every thing in
our company was on wheels in trucks or trailers. We convoyed
all over Southern Arizona setting up our equipment, getting it on the air
and working and then taking it all down and doing it all over again.
It was vital that we be prepared and thus we made preparations that we might
be ready to go. We lived like the Christian ought to live...living
like Christ will come at any moment.
My greatest fear while in that unit
was that the order to move would come and I would not be ready.
I checked and double checked everything. We as believers
are to do the same. We are to check and double check our lives and
make all necessary changes and preparations to be ready.
E. The person who
is going somewhere and truly believes it makes preparations to arrive there.
1.
Did you note that in 2 Corinthians 5:10, after being told that the believer
has the sure hope of heaven and that when one dies he immediately goes to
heaven that we are told we will be judged?
Verse 10 “Wherefore we
labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one
may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad.”
2.
1 Corinthians 3:10-23 we receive the same assurance and also warning about
being judged.
3.
John says we who are saved are pure and he that is pure purifies himself.
In simple terms it means that if we have the hope of heaven in our hearts
and believe God that when we die we will go to heaven.....we live like we
are going to heaven.
III. The Result of the Blessed Hope. 1 John 3:4-18.
A. Sin is lawlessness. Verse 4.
God has give us laws to keep us from sin because all sin is destructive.
Inside the law was peace with God, with others and with ourselves.
But sin destroys that peace and rightness and in it place produces confusion,
failure, dissatisfaction and harm. All sin has a destructive
influence. There are not white lies or little sins that can be over
looked....all sin is destructive to our lives and will harm us and those
we love and who know us.
ILLUS: I heard the testimony of a man in prison who was later saved on the
radio program of a Rescue Mission. He said he sold a candy bar in a
store and got away with it. He then shop lifted other items.
Once a store owner caught him. He said he had just forgot to
pay and the store owner let him go. He said that store owner showed
him how easy it was to get away with stealing and he began to steal greater
and greater things. He quite work, stole for a living and ended up
in prison his life destroyed. He says he found Christ and that changed
his life...but he is still in prison paying for his crimes.
1. What we would consider small sins
will grow and in time get bigger and can control our lives. John
is saying that Christ saved us from sin......He came to take away sin and
in Christ there is no Sin!
READ Romans 6:1-12....
2. Yes, we are forgiven in Christ Jesus.
But we are still while in these bodies subject to sin. Paul says
in Romans 6 that we are dead to sin, we are to accept that as truth and live
like it.
ILLUS: I do not want to bore you will my military experiences, but they do
make good illustrations. When I joined the Army in June 1961
I was not a soldier. However, in the Recruiting Station in Raleigh,
NC I raised my hand and swore an oath to protect the United States, to obey
my superiors and give my life if necessary to protect our country.
When I said “ I Will” I became a soldier...and from that moment on
I was expected to act like one. In moments I was given orders and told
to get on a train for Fort Jackson, SC and from that moment on the fun began!!!
I did not feel much like a soldier, I did not look like one, but I was one
and they expected me to jump when told to do so. In days I was
given a hair cut...(it was more like a hair shave), new clothes. They
made us throw away our “civvies” or civilian clothes. I was issue a
M1 Garand 30.06 rifle, and the army fed me, and governed every detail of
my life. I was then trained to fight, because of the possibility
of war. In time I became a good soldier as my record shows.
It was a hard, but happy and rewarding live.
That is what a Christian should do....We believe and received
Christ. Then Christ take command of our lives and we live the best
live possible....they very life that God created us to live.
B. The Love of God is perfected in our obedience to Him
. 1 John 3:5.
1. In simple terms
God loved us, suffered and died for our sins that we might be free from death
and sin. Yet that great and wonderful love of God is wasted if
it is not received and accepted and we do not live as God wants us too.
He wants the best....that is the desire of His love and thereby it is perfected,
meaning it accomplishes its purpose and goal, when we live as God wants us
too.
2. Those that believe
become the children of God...then they ought to live like God’s children.
ILLUS: Over the years I have known a number of godly parents whose children
rejected God and lived for the devil. They did not live
like their hard working and god fearing parents. You would think
they were raised by criminals and the worst of sinners.
IV. The Fact of the Believer’s Justification. 1 John 3:8-9.
A. Christ came to destroy the work of Satan.
It was promised in Genesis 3:15. One would come who would bruise
the head of the serpent which is a death blow. Yes, the prophecy
states the serpent would bruise the Savior’s heel, but in the end the Savior
would deal the death blow. Jesus Christ did that on the cross.
When He said it was finished it meant He had paid the sin debt of the whole
world. He had conquered sin, and then He let death take Him.
Three days later He arose thereby conquering both sin and death.
Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
B. The person who gives into sin is honoring the devil.
There are not gray areas and some would teach concerning sin. It is
cut and dry. The child of God should not sin and when he does he dishonors
Christ.
C. John then gives the rule to test by. Whosoever
liveth in habitual sin is a child of the devil and whosoever lives a righteous
life is a child of God.
1. This does not
mean the believer will never sin. John explained that in 1 John 1:8-10.
Yes, the believer will at times fail and sin, but if he is a child of God
he will confess his sins to the Lord and seek God’s help to over come that
sin.
2. 1 Cor. 10:13
says God is working in our lives to help us overcome our sin and will always
give us a means to escape or overcome sin. We all are tempted, but
we do not have to sin.
“There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make
a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
As a believer fights sin....he overcomes
it.
Conclusion:
Next week will we continue with 1 John 3:10-18.
1. As a child of God do you live
like a you are a citizen of heaven? Are you truly looking for
being in heaven?
2. As a professing child of God...is
it important to you to honor the Lord with your life....I do not mean with
lip service...but with living a godly life?
3. The reward the believer is promised
is to honor the Lord. The crowns the faithful believer receives will
be cast at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ as Rev. 4 tells us.
4. Our future service to the Lord in
His Millennial Reign on Earth is based on our present faithfulness and works.
Is that important to you?
5. My friend if you are truly looking
for heaven you will be living like a current resident of that wonderful place
in the presence of our Lord and Savior.
6. What Is God telling you right now?.....What
is He telling you about yourself? The question is
what then will you do? Will you obey the Lord and live the best life
possible?
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