We're going to turn now to our Bibles, and I'm doing something a little bit different than you might expect, given the bulletin. I'm actually going to have us turn to 1 John 3 instead of Matthew 5, and I'll explain a little bit what I'm doing there. This is the first time in 20 years where I showed up on Sunday morning and one of the officers said, I think you've already preached this text here before. And as I began to think about it and meditate upon it, I think he was right. However, as I've been praying and thinking about the subject I want to bring to you, which is personal holiness or pursuing sanctification or a number of other ways the Bible can put this, I actually think this text from 1 John 3 conveys better what I think the Spirit has for us tonight. And so I'll take that as the Lord's providence and rejoice in the text that is before us, but I felt like you needed some explanation as to why we are shifting gears here. So, we're going to be looking at 1 John chapter 3. Let's go ahead and stand together for the reading of God's Word. I'm going to begin reading in chapter 2, verse 28, but I'm going to stop at 3, 9, and we'll look at 3, 4 through 9, Lord willing. And now, little children, abide in Him. so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God, and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins. And in him, there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God." Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. Well, as I mentioned, as I've been preparing to bring the Word of God to you tonight, one theme that has kept coming back to me that I've been praying over is the theme of pursuing personal godliness. One of the reasons why I've wanted to treat this theme is because it's often misunderstood. It can be misunderstood on the level of someone asking, if we are redeemed by the grace of God alone, and all that God requires of us is to receive and rest in Jesus, why then does God require us to be holy? Or it could also come to us a different way. Perhaps as Christians, or perhaps some of you children, have begun to struggle with the task of obeying God, and you quickly learn that that task can be discouraging. So you want to serve the Lord, you want to obey Him from the heart because you love Jesus Christ, But you see that the more you try, the more you fail. Or even when you make great progress, sin can catch you off guard and surprise you, and things are not as easy as they seem. Maybe especially you children who've grown up in the church have begun to notice that in your own lives. Christianity is not as easy as it seems. It's not as easy as it sounds. Well, how we view these things makes a tremendous difference. How we view the Bible's teaching about godliness, or holiness, or obedience, or whatever you want to call it, affects the way we live the Christian life. And that is why I want to focus on this theme from 1 John 3, because John actually gives us several reasons why we should pursue holiness, and in these reasons, several things that ought to encourage us. The big question, though, is how do we view the process? Is it necessary? Is it encouraging? Is it discouraging? Is it something that we are simply embarrassed by because of the depths of our failures? Or how do we actually approach this particular topic? I'm reminded of the book, The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, partly because our family was reading it this morning. And there, he describes the inhabitants of hell getting on a tour bus and visiting the inhabitants of heaven. And please keep in mind that doesn't happen. But the point that he's trying to make is there's a great divorce between the inhabitants, between the character and the perspective of those people. And for the people living in hell, all they see on the horizon is the sun, and it looks like it's about to set. Everything is bad, everything is getting worse, and the end's about to come. For the people in heaven, they see the same sun on the same horizon, but for them it's about to rise. Everything's about to get bigger and better and brighter. And you see the same event can be viewed in two different ways. Is it encouraging? Is it discouraging? Depends on who you are. Depends on where you're going. Depends on how you look at it. Well, I think this is basically how John approaches the subject of sanctification. How do we view ourselves? How do we view the work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit? How do we view our relationship to our God and our Father, and what difference has God designed this to make in the Christian life? This is the difference between pursuing godliness with hope, and being overwhelmed in despair because of our indwelling sin. So this text is tremendously important and I think tremendously helpful. The basic point that I want to bring to you from verses four through nine is this. We must abide in Christ by pursuing personal holiness. Everything else he says in the text is how to do this and why this is possible. The command to abide in Christ goes back to chapter 2, verse 28, and that's why I stopped there. And I think what the author is doing here is he's basically giving us at least four reasons why we should abide in Christ and why abiding in Christ means pursuing godliness. The first is because we want to be unashamed when Christ appears. that we might appear before him in heaven without shame. The second thing is we hope to see him as he is and be like him. So why do we pursue holiness? We don't want to be ashamed. Why do we pursue holiness? We want to be like Christ. But then what else does he say? Well, in our text, he basically tells us we must pursue holiness. We must abide in Christ by pursuing holiness. First of all, because of the nature of Christ's work. Second of all, because of the nature of the new birth. Well, I could put it differently. Because of the nature of Christ's work and because of the nature of the Spirit's work, we can and we must pursue godliness. We ought to do so with encouragement. We ought to do so by faith. We ought to do so with confidence. But you see what John is doing. He's giving us several reasons. So here is my disclaimer. We're all different, aren't we? I tend to think more like Paul than like John. I tend to think more in the logical order. John thinks more in a meditative order. So if I can take a little bit of Paul's thinking and help us wade through John's thought, that's what I'm trying to do here. First, we must pursue holiness because of the nature of God's work in saving us, because of the nature of Christ's work. Second, we must do so because the seed of God remains in us, because the nature of the new birth, because the nature of the Spirit's work, all so that we may live as children of God our Father. And yes, the Trinitarian reference is on purpose. We are living in Christ by the Spirit, through God the Father. And I think this undergirds the reality of what John's giving us. And this ought to impel us forward. These things ought to help us. They ought to encourage us. And that's where I hope to leave us by the end of today. So first, why must we abide in Christ by pursuing personal godliness? First, because of the nature of Christ's work. Christ's work makes us righteous. Now notice what he says in verse four. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. Now, I'm reading from the ESV tonight, and I know some of you have the ESV in front of you. We have the New King James and the Pew Bible, and maybe some have other translations. But you are probably, at least most of you, familiar with the idea that many translations simply say, he who sins practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. And what's the problem? Well, when we read something like that, what do we think? I sin. I still have within me, even as a Christian, those things that I hate. And therefore, what level of obedience is enough to qualify in the text? Have I repented well enough to know that I have the marks of grace in me? Have I obeyed God thoroughly enough to know that I really belong to Jesus Christ? Or should I not be asking these questions at all? Should I simply say these things lead me to depression, and therefore, what I must think about is Christ has counted me righteous, or God, rather, has counted me righteous in Christ. And this whole idea of obedience smacks of legalism. This is not the way to think, this is not the way to go, and we must go a totally different direction entirely. We need to recognize that John has a more holistic view of the work of Christ. He simply tells us, if you belong to Jesus Christ, if Christ has died for your sins and you're receiving and resting on him alone for your salvation, there is a real difference in your life. Things cannot go on the way they are before. And this is why he says, everyone who sins practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness, and then he adds, you know, that he appeared to take away sin, and in him there is no sin, and no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. Now, I think the translation is right. keeps on sinning, practices sin. In other words, this is not the idea that as a Christian person you want to serve Jesus Christ, you love God like your father, and you are trying to imitate him as his children, but you find that you fail, and you are discouraged, and what you hate you find in you. That's not what he has in view. What he has in view is the course of life. What is your bent? What is your direction? Maybe I could ask it differently. How do you identify yourself? For whom are you living? Is it the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life? Is it yourself? Is it your family? Is it your good name? Is it your job? Perhaps you children, is it your friends and your entertainment? or wherever else it may be. In some sense, this is really what he's talking about when he says this is what it means to live a lawless life. A life apart from God, a life without God, as he says, a life that is against God's law. This is probably the Bible verse that comes closest to giving us a definition of sin. Children, adults too, you don't have to answer it, but probably at least half of you in the room know if I ask the question, what is sin? The shorter catechism comes running through your mind. Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. Well, that's basically what John says here. Sin is against the law. Sin is law-breaking. Sin is lawlessness. And so, when he says everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, sin is lawlessness, what he's saying is, remember what Christ came to do. He came to take away lawlessness. He came to take away sin. Now, what I want to try to show you is, this is good news. This is encouraging. We may ask all these questions. What about me? Have I reached the right level of sanctification? Do I have warrant to conclude that I belong to God, that I'm walking in the right direction? But I think what John is getting at that is so important for us to grasp is a quality of life rather than a quantity of obedience. The direction that we go, the things that we love, the desires that we have, And ultimately we could say what makes us tick, what drives us from the inside out. So when I fall into sin, that is not me. I hate those things. Those things are lawless. I love the law of God because I love the God of the law. So if I were preaching on be perfect for your father and heaven is perfect, this is the point that I would be making is this one right here. The law of God reflects the character of God. The reason why the Christian cannot be satisfied with anything less than perfect perpetual obedience, which he or she will receive in heaven, is because we love the God that stands behind the law. We love the law and we hate lawlessness because the law embodies to us the character of our God, the character of our God and Father who has adopted us in His Son, the character of the Son who is a walking transcript of the law and who kept it where we couldn't. who obeyed it on our behalf. But what he's saying is, it's as though John is coming to us and saying, but yet there's more. It's not just that Jesus has kept the law where you couldn't, but he enables you to keep it too. And that's part of the good news, with your failing, with your weakness. So what is he saying? Don't practice sinning. Don't practice lawlessness. Define sin by the law. Understand it in light of the law, but remember these things. You know, verse five, that he, Jesus Christ, appeared in order to take away sin, and in him there is no sin. You see what he's saying? It's easy just to say here, Jesus came to forgive sin. But I actually think what John says is much more encouraging than that. Jesus came to take away sin. Not just to forgive it, but to abolish it. To take it away. Now, I used the Lewis analogy at the beginning, but if I can draw more broadly from John, this is exactly what our apostle does. For those that are looking to that heavenly glory, what do they see? The sun is on the horizon and it's about to rise. It's about to shine in its glory. And how does John describe the Christian life? The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. That's remarkable, isn't it? you know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin. And what he's saying elsewhere in the book is that's exactly what he's doing to you. He's removing the practice and the presence of sin even as he broke the power of sin and took away the guilt of sin. Now you must begin with the latter. In other words, the guilt of your sin must be removed in Christ. You must be counted righteous in Christ or none of this fits. None of this makes any sense. None of this appeals to you. But there's more. He came to take away sin and in him there is no sin. You realize that's what he's saying in the previous context. Why do we want to go to heaven? Somebody was just asking this the other day, is it right to think about us flying in the sky and having floating bodies? And why do Christians actually want to go to heaven? I actually went here and said, because we want to see Jesus. Because now the God who was once our enemy is our friend. And the God who is so infinite in his glory that it demanded an eternity of hell of us as the penalty for our sins is now the object of our beauty and our delight. and the one whom He loves. So be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. We want to be like Him. We want to see Jesus as He is. We want to be like Him. And now, how do we walk through this world? We latch on to the promise that Christ came to abolish sin and in Him there is no sin. So, dear friend, how do you pursue the Christian life? How do you remember, or what do you remember, I should say, as you fight against sin? Well, you begin with faith. as you fall, as you fail, as you're discouraged, as perhaps you continue to fall into the anger that besets you, or the discontentment, or the lack of thankfulness, or a number of other things that encroach upon your life and upon mine, how do you respond? Well, one way to do that is to say that Jesus Christ came to take away sin, and in him there is no sin. And I believe Christ came to take away my sin. and your sin. Children, this is what you really need to learn as you first begin to get discouraged fighting sin. And if you've not been discouraged, child or adult, in fighting sin, you've probably not begun to do it. That's why I'm preaching this sermon. Because this is what we need to impel us forward, not just to show us why we need to obey Christ, but how. Do we look to the Savior who's come to abolish sin. If I could use theological terms, he's talking about not only being justified in Christ, but something better than justification, something beyond, something added to, namely our sanctification, our transformation. But notice everything he says is descriptive so far and not prescriptive. This is true. Do you believe it? Do you rest upon it? And then he gives us the negative. There's always the negative, isn't there? And there must be the negative, not just the positive, but the negative. We must balance the two together. But he does add, no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. So what is he saying? Are you discouraged with your battle with sin? Do you falter? Do you fail? then there's encouragement for you. Because in Him is no sin and He came to take away your sins. And you must rest on Him, you must expect Him to do it, but you see what's going on. What do you desire? What do you long for? What do you look for? To be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. To see Christ as He is in glory. To love the law of God because you love the God of the law. And what this text is telling you, if that's you, you will get all that you desire and then some. So, dear friend, isn't this encouraging? But if, on the other hand, your heart is with the world and you simply desire to live for the things of this world, as I've given some examples a few moments ago, then there could be nothing more discouraging. Because what does John say? You will get all you desire and more. You know, Lewis says something provocative in The Great Divorce. He says, when people get to heaven and get to hell, In some sense, they'll begin to realize that those who end up in hell were in hell all along, even when they were on earth. And those who are in heaven will realize that they were in heaven all along, even on earth. And it doesn't mean there isn't a radical difference when we get there, and there will be. But the real issue is who are we now? How do we live now? Do we know God? Are we trusting in the finished work of Christ? Do we look to him to transform us as well as to forgive us? In which case we've begun to enjoy the delights of eternal fellowship with God right now. And that's exactly what we did at the Lord's table this morning. Or outside of God. We have a sense of hopelessness in life. a sense of purposelessness, strife and division with others. And if that's not you and you're outside of Christ, you've probably just not spent enough time thinking and realizing the tragedy of human life apart from knowing our Creator. And we've already begun to live in hell. And we only receive more. We destroy ourselves. We fall under the wrath and curse of God. It's one or the other, and it must be. Well, what is the first reason we must abide in Christ by pursuing personal holiness? Because of the nature of Christ's work. Now, as I transition to the second point, again, this is where my caveat becomes important. I think more like Paul than like John, and I confess that freely, but I love them both. And what I want to do is, in an organizational way that's more like Paul, try to explain faithfully, I hope, what John is saying. I've said at the outset, he's talking about the nature of Christ's work. This is why we must pursue holiness. Who Christ is, what he's come to do. Well, that doesn't drop off the scene in the next section. In other words, this is not a neat and tidy division of a logical argument. Here's point one, here's point two, now here's your conclusion. He carries forward what he's already been telling us and expands it slightly with a new idea. And it's the new idea that I'm trying to latch on to. The new idea is the other reason why we must abide in Christ by pursuing personal holiness is that his seed abides in us. And you can see that at the end of this section, down in verse 9. The ESV has verse 10 as part of this section. I think it's better introducing the subsequent one and starting to lead into the examples, because John then is going to show us what this looks like. But if we stop at verse 9, what we end with is that no one who is born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he is born of God. Let's begin there and push our way back into the text. Why must you pursue godliness in Christ and pursue righteousness? Because if you truly belong to God, you literally cannot keep on sinning. Notice he doesn't say you cannot sin. Peter fell into sin by refusing to eat with the Gentiles. Paul rebuked him for his hypocrisy. Peter loved Jesus Christ and he sinned. Abraham sinned in lying and calling his wife his sister. I know it's a partial lie, but it's still a lie. And it was intended to deceive. Noah was drunken after the flood. And you get the picture, don't you? But I think this is still true, isn't it? It's true for them, it's true for us, maybe even more preeminently so. With the full unveiled glory of Christ before us, With the power of the Spirit dwelling in our hearts, supplying these things to us, hopefully even now, it's impossible. You realize if somebody says to you, if I'm forgiven by the free grace of God alone, why do I need to obey God? You could say, because if you're born of God, it's impossible to do anything else. And that is what John's saying, isn't it? It's just not possible. And why is he saying this? Because the seed, I believe, that he's referring to is the Holy Spirit himself. Elsewhere, he tells us that the reason why we know we're not going to turn aside from Christ and end up like so many people who profess faith in Christ but never possessed Christ himself and who went out from us and were never truly of us, the reason why we'll make it and they don't is because his seed remains in us. We have an anointing from the Holy One. And I think what John's saying, if you compare this with John's gospel, especially where our pastor is preaching now in chapter 16, is that the Holy One is Jesus. And the anointing is the Holy Spirit. And because the Spirit comes and dwells in your heart, really makes His home with you. And He will never leave you. and never forsake you, this is what John is getting at. How can I be assured that in spite of my failings, my weaknesses, my temptations, my real sin, that I must confess, that I must repent of, that I will go forward, that I will make progress, that I will make it? Because His seed abides in us. Because His seed abides in us, because the Spirit changes us from the inside out, the Spirit dwells in us. and works from the inside out, he then tells us it's impossible. No one who is born of God makes a practice of sinning. Verse 9. Now, you could take that positively and negatively, can't you? Again, you can look at that and say, I see the sin in my life, this is discouraging. Or you could turn that around and say, I see the sin in my life, this is encouraging. Because it won't be this way forever. It will change beginning today. And I can and I will pursue the glory of God in Jesus Christ, because this is exactly what Christ has come to do for me. This is exactly what the Spirit is doing, who is, as it were, the seed of eternal life in my own heart. And you see what John's doing. He's directing you back to faith, isn't he? Before the Lord is telling you what you must do, He's telling you what you must believe. And whenever we invert this order, we go wrong. His seed abides in us. And we cannot keep sinning. It's impossible. Well, then let's back into the text. Go back to verse seven. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but how many expected him to begin by saying the opposite? In other words, whoever practices sin is just not of God. Now, he does say that, doesn't he? The next verse, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil sinned from the beginning. That's who he is. That's what he does. And if you act like him, then you are like him. And you have his end. You have his judgment. You will end up with his lot, so to speak. But he actually begins positively. Let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. That's an interesting way to put it, isn't it? It's as though he's saying this, as a Christian, don't be discouraged. Do you love the God whom you once despised? Are his attributes, his qualities, his beauties, his majesty now attractive to you where they were once repellent to you? Is Christ beautiful to you? And to you the wisdom of God and the power of God were once his cross was foolishness. Then it's as though he's saying, take heart. If you desire the righteous God and you pursue Him in righteousness, don't be deceived. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. You mean me? In all of my sin, in all of my imperfection, in all of my failures, the righteous are shining like the sun, shining ever brighter to the perfect day. We are being transformed from glory to glory by beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The darkness is passing away. The true light is already shining. Dear friends, these are Bible expressions about Christians. And this one is very similar. Don't be deceived. You practice righteousness, you pursue it, you are righteous. God not only accepts your persons in Christ, he accepts your works. He accepts your service, much as a father loves the imperfect service of his children. Because he loves the children. And is it any different with our God? Well, it is, isn't it? It's better. It's greater. It's more glorious. And this language of being adopted by the Father, seeing Christ and being like Him, permeates this whole context and must dominate our attention. Why must we abide in Christ by pursuing godliness? Because the nature of Christ's work demands it and encourages it, and because the nature of the Spirit's work as the seed of God in our hearts makes it impossible to do anything else. We must begin here, and we ought to. Do we live like God or do we live like Satan? Do we bear the image of God or do we bear the image of the devil? That's what it comes down to. And it's not religion that makes the difference. The Pharisees went to the synagogue every Sabbath, twice, offered double sacrifices. They kept not only the law of God as far as they understood it, which was not very great, but they also kept the tradition of their elders. They were so zealous for them that Paul even put Christians in prison because he thought they were blasphemers. They were religious people, they were zealous people, but they were not saved people. Why? Jesus actually says to them, God is not your father. You obey the works of your father, the devil, and your father's will you want to do. What a thing to say to churchgoers, to religious people. And I don't say that here, repeating the words of our savior, pointing the finger directly at anybody or suspecting anyone directly in the room. But at the same time, by the spirit of God, working through the word of God, pointing the finger at every one of us. Right? We have too much of the image of Satan left in us, don't we? But what are we living for? What is the bent of life? What is the direction of life? What do you truly love? What do you truly desire? Jonathan Edwards once said, the true essence of saving faith or the true difference between the regenerate and the unregenerate comes down to this. It's not simply an outward change of life. It's not simply religious practices or church going or wanting to study theology or anything like that. Using his 1700s-ish language, he says it's an apprehension of and delight in the divine beauties. And I think that's what John is getting at. Satan embodies the opposite of the divine beauties. And basically, the only thing we need to do to resemble Satan rather than God is live a life that doesn't aim at the glory of God. That's it. You could be an outwardly bad person. You can be an outwardly good person and a respectable person. You're in the same boat. And you have the same lot. You obey the will of your father, the devil, and your father's will you want to do. Well, that's very insulting. How could you say such a thing? Well, do you live for the glory of God in everything you do? Is he most important? Is Christ most beautiful? Is the spirit most glorious? Making you like God, is that why you're living? And if you don't answer that question in the affirmative, how could you say that you love anything but Satan? Because that is exactly what Satan is, and how he lives, and you're living just like him. And I pray if there are any of you that fit that description, may the Lord open your eyes tonight. Will you not see it? Will you not listen to it, dear friend? And flee from it to the things we're describing here. The good news is that Christ's work transforms you, and that the Spirit's work secures you. That's what we have before us. Two simple things. I could have added more text for more reasons. I could have given more examples, but this is the essence of it, isn't it? Who is God and what is our relationship to him? How do we view ourselves? Where I want to end is basically this. For those who are resting in Jesus Christ alone, who receive him by faith, there is nothing more encouraging in the Christian life than the message of this text. Because what it means is we can make progress, we will make progress, we must make progress. So I hope that for most of us in this room tonight, we literally leave this place tomorrow morning, even tonight really, hitting the ground running, excited to live the Christian life. Even though we run, even though we stumble, even though we fall, we know we'll make it. We know we'll get faster. We know we'll get better. We know we'll be more like Christ in this world and ultimately receive everything we've wanted to be like him in the next. Dear friend, I pray that this encourages you and helps you. But then the other side, if these things are not our goals, then there's nothing more discouraging, is there? Because without holiness, no one will see the Lord. And you won't be the first who violates the text and made it anyway. We cannot practice lawlessness and live with a God embodied in the law. If we practice righteousness, we're righteous as he is righteous. If we practice lawlessness, then we're of the devil, whatever we think about ourselves. Sobering, isn't it? Where do we stand this day? I hope, dear friends, that these things stir up your faith and enable you to lay hold of Christ and the work of the Spirit with confidence as we pursue godliness in the Lord. Let us pray. Almighty Lord, we thank you for this book of Scripture. We thank you, O Lord, for its message and its encouragements and its warnings. We thank you that in your infinite wisdom you have chosen to give us this text tonight. We pray that it would grip our hearts. We pray that it would nourish and strengthen our faith. We pray that you would use it to make us more like our glorious Savior. Bless us as we conclude the Lord's Day with joy and thanksgiving in our hearts, and we also pray if any do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, whether here in this room or listening online, Lord, that you would open hearts, that you would turn many from darkness to light, and that you would bless us with the knowledge of yourself. We ask it in Christ's name, amen.