WEBVTT 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:02.470 1 John 2 is where we're going to be together. 00:00:03.860 --> 00:00:11.280 I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into this section of scripture because this section, guys, I really want to be more interested in just 00:00:11.280 --> 00:00:11.930 articulating... 00:00:12.940 --> 00:00:20.960 I think clearly what this passage communicates for us, because this is the foundation to walking powerfully 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:22.180 in Christ in this world. 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:29.560 And this is where he kind of separates for us in this passage of scripture posers from the real followers of Jesus. 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:35.420 If you remember 1 John 2:18-19, those were kind of the freak out verses we looked at last week. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:37.020 We talked about how you handle that. 00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:42.030 Like, some Christians read this, they'll bunker, hunker down and say the world's going to hell in a hand basket and we're just hiding from it. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:44.620 I don't think that's what Jesus wants us to do. 00:00:44.620 --> 00:00:51.780 Jesus calls us to not walk in a spirit of fear, but we're victorious in Christ and to live out that victory as lights for him, just as Jesus 00:00:51.780 --> 00:00:52.620 did for us. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.480 And so, we've looked at some of those passages on how we do that in our lives. 00:00:57.800 --> 00:01:03.260 And then he sort of, in verse 26, he gives us this thought as he relates now to the rest of this section of scripture. 00:01:03.260 --> 00:01:10.280 He says, "I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you." He wants us to be 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.820 aware, okay, when we're talking about light in the world, there is darkness. 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:15.640 Darkness works against the light. 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:19.630 We don't want to be deceived by the darkness and think that it's light when in fact it is not. 00:01:20.160 --> 00:01:24.200 Rather, what God desires for us to do is to walk in the light. 00:01:24.320 --> 00:01:29.300 In verse 28, he now starts to communicate to us, as a body of believers, what that looks like. 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:34.200 I think John, if you remember in this passage of scripture, John is approaching 100 years old. 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:38.960 He's getting to the end of his life, he's the last living apostle who walked with Jesus on this earth. 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:42.240 And John's just looking at the church and he's wanting God's best for you. 00:01:42.300 --> 00:01:45.200 He doesn't want anything from you, he wants God's best from you. 00:01:45.220 --> 00:01:49.340 He's looking at the trajectory of what awaits the next century church. 00:01:49.520 --> 00:01:56.580 And he's just thinking in these last moments of his life, as he writes the last books of the Bible, what it would look like to live for Jesus in this world to 00:01:56.580 --> 00:01:57.460 make a difference. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.740 In chapter two, verse 28, he starts on that idea. 00:02:01.740 --> 00:02:08.860 He says this, "And now, little children, abide in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:16.040 not shrink from him in shame at his coming." He positions this idea of deception and darkness in this world, Jesus 00:02:16.040 --> 00:02:18.120 is light, you wanting to walk in that light. 00:02:18.140 --> 00:02:22.100 And John's desire for you is to come before Jesus in confidence. 00:02:22.100 --> 00:02:24.040 One day, you will meet him face to face. 00:02:25.760 --> 00:02:30.860 And on that day, what John desires for you is confidence before the Lord. 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:39.220 In fact, some say that this section of scripture is really the meat of what 1 John is about, the end of chapter two, chapter 00:02:39.220 --> 00:02:40.720 three, into chapter four. 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:48.140 You see in chapter four, verse 17, it's sort of like John puts a book end to the idea of what it means for a believer to walk confidently, because 00:02:48.140 --> 00:02:49.650 he brings up this word confidence again. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.840 "By this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. 00:02:55.160 --> 00:03:02.460 Because as he is, so also are we in this world." So, he's encouraging 00:03:02.460 --> 00:03:09.240 us in this desire to want us to be confident before the Lord. 00:03:11.460 --> 00:03:12.610 He doesn't want you wandering. 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:17.240 He wants you to belong and walk confidently in the Lord. 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:23.430 It's like this, there is darkness and there is light, right? 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:27.690 And sometimes we see ourselves as saying, "Okay, I don't want to belong to the darkness. 00:03:29.540 --> 00:03:32.410 But at the same time, when it comes to Jesus, sometimes I feel like I mess up. 00:03:32.660 --> 00:03:39.680 So, I'm sort of in this in between place." And not being confident in your relationship with God, but not belonging to the 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:40.120 darkness. 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:44.220 You sort of feel this ambiguous place where you kind of get isolated, right? 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:48.320 And I think that's a dangerous place in the life of a Christian. 00:03:48.320 --> 00:03:50.600 Because if Satan can get you alone, he can pick you off. 00:03:52.160 --> 00:03:58.320 In fact, I like to encourage believers sometimes, I know in life experience we can go through things and sometimes we get jaded. 00:03:58.870 --> 00:04:04.310 Even in the body of Christ, things that we go through aren't always perfect and we can get jaded over those things. 00:04:04.460 --> 00:04:09.180 And sometimes you encounter Christians that claim to follow Jesus, but they say, "You know what? 00:04:09.200 --> 00:04:16.320 I'm just going to do it on my own, church on my own." But do you know it's impossible to live 00:04:16.320 --> 00:04:17.440 for Jesus on your own? 00:04:18.820 --> 00:04:24.740 What God gives you is gifts to glorify him and those gifts are intended to be given away. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.000 And the place that God calls you to do that to express your spiritual gifts is in community. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:37.800 When you think about what it means to walk in the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, it requires relationship to be around you in order to 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:39.240 exercise those things. 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:42.760 It is impossible to live for Jesus without community. 00:04:43.760 --> 00:04:44.920 God calls us to be in community. 00:04:46.140 --> 00:04:48.960 I understand we go through difficult things in our lives, sometimes we do those things. 00:04:48.980 --> 00:04:55.260 Where we screw up and we're thinking, "Does God really love me?" Other times we face adversity in other people and with other people in relationships. 00:04:55.640 --> 00:04:59.150 But through it all, God wants to be glorified in the midst of that hardship. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:03.690 Because there is darkness and there is light. 00:05:05.060 --> 00:05:06.910 And God wants us to walk with confidence. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:09.280 So, how do we live with confidence? 00:05:09.380 --> 00:05:16.140 Well, in chapter two, verse 28, he really starts to play on a word that he's repeated several times. 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:23.420 He talks about this confidence, but he says this, "And now little children, abide in him." We 00:05:23.420 --> 00:05:27.450 talk about being confident before the Lord, it has to do much with our abiding. 00:05:27.780 --> 00:05:31.500 I love how, if you look in verse 26 to 28, how this breaks down. 00:05:31.640 --> 00:05:34.420 He's saying, "Look, I don't want you to be deceived." Right? 00:05:34.460 --> 00:05:41.540 And so, he gives this in verse 27, "But," so, in order to contrast this deception of darkness, there's this but 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:44.200 in verse 27 of how to live, we'll look at that in just a minute. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:51.920 And then in verse 28, he says, "And now do this is what God wants for you in the light of many antichrists in this world, 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:56.320 a light of," verse 19, "people walking out from us, but they were not of us. 00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:03.360 In light of all of that, let's call ourselves, where we are in relationship to God and just acknowledge that before him, so that we can 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:05.100 be confident." So, how do we be confident? 00:06:07.340 --> 00:06:07.760 Abide. 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:09.980 Abide. 00:06:13.460 --> 00:06:19.800 John uses this word abide in chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, 23 times. 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:28.320 Remember, I said to you, the meat of what the book of John is about really is found in chapter two, verse 28, to chapter four, verse 00:06:28.320 --> 00:06:29.100 17. 00:06:29.440 --> 00:06:31.250 For the foundation of the life of a disciple. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:36.500 And the word that he uses more than any other word in this section of scripture is the idea of abiding. 00:06:38.400 --> 00:06:43.660 This is where we separate in our lives those that pretend to follow Jesus from those that do. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:51.560 In fact, when John talks about this word abiding, John knows this was the word that Jesus used in the upper 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:53.840 room in the last moments with his disciples, right? 00:06:56.120 --> 00:07:03.880 John 15, listen to this is what Christ said in verse two, "Every branch in me that 00:07:03.880 --> 00:07:05.640 does not bear fruit, he takes away. 00:07:07.260 --> 00:07:12.060 And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:16.280 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 00:07:16.320 --> 00:07:18.500 Abide in me and I you. 00:07:19.660 --> 00:07:25.000 As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 00:07:25.840 --> 00:07:28.270 I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:07:29.460 --> 00:07:35.200 Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:40.330 If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:50.360 And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned." The Christian life, it's 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:51.200 about abiding. 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:56.620 And he who does not abide, the Bible says in this passage, Jesus cuts away and prunes. 00:07:58.140 --> 00:08:05.400 I found out, even in my own life, I've never been like a farmer, sometimes I'll just be like, "I should grow things." And I'll grow things, right? 00:08:05.400 --> 00:08:08.000 But the last house that we owned, we did have an apple tree. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:14.620 And what I learned over the years of owning an apple tree, the more I would prune the apple tree, the better the fruit it would produce. 00:08:16.840 --> 00:08:20.940 And I think in 1 John 2, that's where John is in this story. 00:08:22.660 --> 00:08:24.500 He wants to see a successful church. 00:08:25.960 --> 00:08:33.490 But I think part of understanding that success which God calls us to, is to understand that everything we do is connected to our faith in Jesus. 00:08:34.880 --> 00:08:36.240 He is the source of it all. 00:08:37.940 --> 00:08:44.080 Jesus talks about those things being burned, but what John says in 1 John 2:19, they went out from us but they were not of us. 00:08:46.040 --> 00:08:49.000 And so, John and the idea of being confident, he wants us to abide. 00:08:49.160 --> 00:08:52.880 And he did in chapter two, verses five and six, he defined what abiding looked like. 00:08:52.880 --> 00:08:57.300 He said, "But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. 00:08:58.760 --> 00:09:01.660 By this we may know that we are in him. 00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:09.440 Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." When John talks about 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:16.440 abiding in this passage, he defines it as knowing Jesus and then walking with Jesus. 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:21.760 This word knowing is not just knowing about, but intimately knowing the things of God. 00:09:21.980 --> 00:09:28.980 This idea of abiding in Christ is to know the Lord and then choosing in knowing him to surrender your 00:09:28.980 --> 00:09:31.040 life and walking in pace with him. 00:09:32.800 --> 00:09:33.260 To mimic him. 00:09:34.900 --> 00:09:39.840 Giving my life over to him and allowing Jesus to be the one to guide me in this world. 00:09:41.260 --> 00:09:44.020 So, you want to be strong and bold for God, how do we do this? 00:09:44.020 --> 00:09:48.750 Well, we abide and in that abiding, we find confidence in who we are in Jesus. 00:09:49.460 --> 00:09:54.180 This goal, in John's mind, is to be confident and abiding in Christ. 00:09:57.220 --> 00:10:07.240 In 2012, Lifeway Christian Research did a ten year study, and 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:13.320 they looked at the life of disciples and they looked at all the discipline of people that follow Jesus and they analyzed it for ten years. 00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:18.560 Eric Geiger released a study on it called, Transformational Discipleship, it became a book. 00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:25.700 But, for ten years they did a study on being a disciple and they thought, okay, out of every discipline a Christian could follow in 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:32.980 their lives, what discipline made the biggest difference in 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:36.750 the confidence they carried before God and the abiding in him? 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:45.400 Out of all that they studied, after ten years they noticed there was one thing that stood head and shoulders above everything else. 00:10:46.460 --> 00:10:53.120 I mean, they looked at fasting, they looked praying, they looked at serving, they looked church attendance, they looked at giving, they looked at community. 00:10:53.940 --> 00:10:55.880 They examined, for ten years, everything about a Christian. 00:10:56.580 --> 00:11:02.220 What was it that helped Christians be healthy and living confidently before the Lord and abiding in him? 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:11.320 And out of all the study, the one thing that stood head and shoulders above all else, how 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:12.670 they got into God's word. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:18.460 How they sought after the Lord in his word. 00:11:21.580 --> 00:11:28.880 When we think about what it means to know him, and the way that God has communicated himself to 00:11:28.880 --> 00:11:36.000 us, out of all the disciplines they studied, they say that the way that a Christian finds his confidence and abiding in God is to know the word of God, 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:39.020 which God communicates himself to us in this means. 00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:39.380 Right? 00:11:39.460 --> 00:11:44.220 In fact, in 1 John 2:5, it says, "But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. 00:11:44.920 --> 00:11:49.900 By this, we know that we are in him." Like, the secret of abiding is communicating. 00:11:49.980 --> 00:11:55.420 I could tell Lifeway before they did this research, you don't have to spend ten years studying this, right? 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:56.560 John says it. 00:11:56.660 --> 00:11:59.200 They studied for ten years, like, "What is this answer? 00:11:59.880 --> 00:12:07.180 Hmm?" And he says to us in verse five, it's the idea of coming to grasp his word and to know his word and 00:12:07.180 --> 00:12:08.270 to keep his word. 00:12:08.520 --> 00:12:12.660 And in knowing his word, God's word transforms our lives. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.620 In verse 27 of John, look at this. 00:12:17.380 --> 00:12:24.220 The reason I say this is verse 27 in chapter two, it gets a little confusing sometimes when people believe it, they do some weird stuff with this passage as well. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:31.260 But he says, "The anointing that you have received from him abides in you and you have 00:12:31.260 --> 00:12:32.820 no need that anyone should teach you. 00:12:34.660 --> 00:12:41.680 But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide 00:12:41.680 --> 00:12:48.840 in him." John wanting you confidently before the Lord, this is what he says, "The 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:53.000 anointing that you received from him abides you." We talked about this last week, right? 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:56.980 The idea of the gift of what it is to be anointed by the Lord. 00:12:57.760 --> 00:13:00.990 In the Old Testament, prophet, priest, and kings were anointed. 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:06.330 And it was to signify that the Spirit of God was on them to accomplish God's will in this world. 00:13:07.300 --> 00:13:11.600 And that when you get to the New Testament, it says about believers, that God's anointing is on you. 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:18.500 And the New Testament calls you a royal priesthood, saying that God's Spirit now dwells within you to accomplish his will in this world. 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:23.560 And then he goes on, John encourages us then in this. 00:13:23.560 --> 00:13:26.220 He says, "You have no need for anyone to teach you." Right? 00:13:26.680 --> 00:13:32.680 Which kind of sounds contrary to what I just said about discipleship and what John says about abiding in chapter two, verse five, right? 00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:33.980 That you would know his word. 00:13:33.980 --> 00:13:36.500 And now he's saying you don't have anybody to teach you because you've got the Spirit. 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:38.660 Now what is John talking about here? 00:13:38.680 --> 00:13:38.760 Right? 00:13:38.780 --> 00:13:39.980 Is he contradicting himself? 00:13:41.420 --> 00:13:48.380 Well, what John is saying to us is during John's time, if you remember, he's writing this book as gnosticism is starting to grow. 00:13:49.280 --> 00:13:54.140 And what gnosticism is meaning, or the definition of gnosticism is secret knowledge. 00:13:55.460 --> 00:14:02.700 And what's happening in the life of the church is that individuals are coming in and they're starting to proclaim more than what God desired 00:14:02.700 --> 00:14:04.300 for his people to know in truth. 00:14:05.380 --> 00:14:07.120 In fact, what they're proclaiming is not truth at all. 00:14:07.880 --> 00:14:09.730 They are teaching what they say is secret knowledge. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.280 They'll come in and they'll say, "Look, what you have is good, but you need a little more. 00:14:13.280 --> 00:14:20.300 You don't have it all." And so, they're giving this gnosticism, this secret knowledge in order to take the 00:14:20.300 --> 00:14:22.440 truth that God is proclaiming, and they're beginning to pervert it. 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:31.520 And what John is doing here in this passage is saying, "Look, you've been anointed by God's Spirit, you have what God needs for you to accomplish what God calls 00:14:31.520 --> 00:14:32.340 you to in this world. 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:33.920 You don't need anything else. 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:35.780 You don't need extra teaching. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:37.680 In fact, there is no extra teaching. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:46.140 It's what Jesus has already given to you." It says, "But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it 00:14:46.140 --> 00:14:53.720 has taught you, abide in him." And what John is saying is, "Look, you've already been taught the truth." Christians, 00:14:53.780 --> 00:14:55.820 we don't need extra revelation. 00:14:56.920 --> 00:14:59.940 Everything in scripture in the Old Testament points to Jesus. 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:02.140 And everything in the New Testament is pointing back to Jesus. 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:06.840 Because in everything, in that what we believe in, is culminated in Christ and in Christ alone. 00:15:07.820 --> 00:15:09.950 There is no need to add to that. 00:15:10.540 --> 00:15:17.600 And so, what John is saying to church is, "Look, church, your message in the simplistic form of everything that Jesus has done for 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:24.640 you, that is what you cling to." In fact, when you look at the early church, the thing that is taught over 00:15:24.640 --> 00:15:28.490 and over, even from this morning, I did my devotions out of the book of Galatians. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:34.320 It says in chapter two that Paul has to come before Peter and stand before Peter. 00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:37.360 And he's talking to Peter about the Jews who came into the church. 00:15:37.400 --> 00:15:40.280 And they're trying to teach this extra law that the Gentiles need to follow. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:41.370 When, in fact, they don't. 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:43.610 And Paul says that's anathema, that is acursed. 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:50.860 What John is encouraging us to is in the idea of what abiding really means. 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:58.580 The Spirit of God testifies with the truth of God that's already proclaimed we don't need any more. 00:15:59.940 --> 00:16:03.140 In fact, when you think about this throughout scripture, it's reiterated over and over. 00:16:03.140 --> 00:16:10.740 Look at this, it says in John 4:24, that, "God is Spirit and those who worship him," look, "must worship in Spirit 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:17.980 and in truth." What it's saying to us in this passage is that the Spirit and truth 00:16:17.980 --> 00:16:22.100 are distinct from one another, but they're inseparable. 00:16:23.560 --> 00:16:26.080 That what the Spirit works in is the truth, right? 00:16:26.880 --> 00:16:32.220 And this is important because sometimes you will meet people in life and they'll say this, "I am spiritual. 00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:41.640 I am spiritual." Um, quite frankly, so is Satan. 00:16:44.380 --> 00:16:46.160 But we don't want to believe what he believes, right? 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:50.020 Saying you're spiritual is nothing profound. 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:51.680 Everyone created is spiritual. 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:54.780 It's what you do with it that matters. 00:16:56.920 --> 00:17:02.720 And here, John wants us to understand we talk about things of the Spirit, it is not exclusive from truth. 00:17:03.860 --> 00:17:05.359 Rather, there is a foundation for it. 00:17:05.380 --> 00:17:09.650 Look at this, in 2 Peter 1:20, "No prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:18.880 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." God's 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:21.599 word was given to you by the Spirit. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:23.579 It's not exclusive. 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:29.520 Men aren't coming along to write whatever, God gave his word for a particular reason. 00:17:29.540 --> 00:17:30.510 For all of us to know. 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:34.470 To get God's word in us, is to get the Spirit of God moving through us. 00:17:37.260 --> 00:17:39.700 If you want to be spiritual, connect where the Spirit guides. 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:42.300 And where the Spirit guides is in the truth of God's word. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:47.240 And so, when we talk about abiding, it's not adding this new revelation. 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:49.580 It's taking what God has already revealed and knowing that. 00:17:49.580 --> 00:17:55.480 I mean, one of our foundations as a church is to speak the truth in love, right? 00:17:57.560 --> 00:17:58.680 But you can't speak what you don't know. 00:18:01.820 --> 00:18:05.530 How can you speak the truth in love when you don't even know what God's word says? 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:15.460 But if you want that Spirit that God calls us to be anointed with in him, to really move through us, is to get God's word in us, because it's the 00:18:15.460 --> 00:18:17.680 Spirit of God that gave us the truth of God. 00:18:20.060 --> 00:18:26.340 2 Timothy 3, "All scripture is breathed out by God." Meaning, literally, it's inspired or God breathed. 00:18:28.040 --> 00:18:28.640 God's word. 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:37.420 I love Jude, it's only got one chapter, and verse three, it says, "For the faith that was once for all 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:44.620 entrusted to the saints." Jude's saying, "I wanted to write to you about a common salvation, but instead rather, I wrote to you 00:18:44.620 --> 00:18:49.760 about the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." Verse three of the book of Jude. 00:18:50.600 --> 00:18:57.640 And what Jude is acknowledging is this, look, he's saying people are trying to come in and add to God's word, but rather 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:02.060 I want to keep encouraging in the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 00:19:03.560 --> 00:19:07.440 What Jude is saying is God's word is conclusive, right? 00:19:08.080 --> 00:19:10.640 It was once for all, already passed down to the saints. 00:19:11.780 --> 00:19:17.040 It's not changed, it's not added to, it's already once for all been given to us. 00:19:18.020 --> 00:19:21.640 And so, when we talk about abiding in God, it's letting the Spirit of God work in our lives. 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:28.080 And the way the Spirit of God works in our lives is through the truth of God's word and allowing us to connect to God in his Spirit by reading his. 00:19:28.080 --> 00:19:32.200 That his word can have its way in our hearts, in us and through us. 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:36.260 One of the popular verses I often hear is James 1:5. 00:19:37.600 --> 00:19:44.760 If you're spiritual, then you read James 1:5 and then you pray and you find out what's 00:19:44.760 --> 00:19:45.400 true, right? 00:19:46.340 --> 00:19:53.360 I mean, the verse says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him." And 00:19:53.360 --> 00:20:00.640 then people read this verse and say, "Look, if you want to know what's true, read this verse and then pray that 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:01.620 God will show you truth. 00:20:02.020 --> 00:20:08.380 And then God will reveal it to you, right?" But here's the problem, James never says the word truth. 00:20:09.660 --> 00:20:10.530 Do you see that in this passage? 00:20:11.280 --> 00:20:12.380 "If any of you lack," what? 00:20:12.620 --> 00:20:13.400 He doesn't say truth. 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:15.010 He doesn't say truth. 00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:17.090 He says wisdom. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:22.440 "If any of you lack wisdom." There is a difference between truth and wisdom. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:25.340 Truth in Greek is aletheia. 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:29.180 That word in Greek is sofia, that is not aletheia. 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:36.420 He's saying, "If any of you lack wisdom." Here's what's happening in James' day, he says, "Brothers, count it all joy when you endure 00:20:36.420 --> 00:20:39.370 various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 00:20:39.800 --> 00:20:42.090 And let endurance have its perfect work. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:49.620 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously without reproach." The context 00:20:49.620 --> 00:20:53.240 for James in this passage of scripture is not the seeking of truth. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:57.490 The context of James in this passage of scripture is a church that's being persecuted. 00:20:58.380 --> 00:21:05.400 "Count it all joy when you endure various trials." When was the last time you went through a trial and thought, "This is joyful." James says, "Count it all joy when 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:09.880 you endure various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." You know what the church is asking? 00:21:09.940 --> 00:21:14.760 They're not asking, "Oh, God, what's true?" What they're asking is, "God, this is hard. 00:21:14.980 --> 00:21:21.530 How do we live in light of the truth because of the difficulty that we're going through?" And you know what God says? 00:21:23.120 --> 00:21:24.460 Not pray about whether or not it's true. 00:21:26.340 --> 00:21:34.440 God says, "With the truth that you already have, seek God and he'll give you the answer on how to be wise with that truth." They're 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:37.200 not seeking truth, they already have the truth. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:40.960 What they're worried about is honoring God in the midst of the adversity. 00:21:41.260 --> 00:21:44.660 And what God is promising is them is that he will give them the wisdom. 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:55.420 I mean, how many of you in your life, when you go through a hardship, you're like, "Man, God, I just need you to direct me in this." I think what God's answer in this passage 00:21:55.420 --> 00:21:56.880 is get his truth in you. 00:21:58.140 --> 00:22:02.940 And when you get his truth in you and you encounter the adversity, God will give you the wisdom to live that out in your life. 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:05.380 They're not praying for truth. 00:22:07.120 --> 00:22:08.480 They're praying for wisdom. 00:22:09.840 --> 00:22:15.720 And so, the idea of abiding then for us is this, to know God. 00:22:15.760 --> 00:22:22.760 And in knowing God, what our heart should be inclined to is his truth, because that's what the Spirit of God has given to us in order to 00:22:22.760 --> 00:22:23.960 know this God. 00:22:25.900 --> 00:22:32.980 Verse 29, he goes on and says it like this then, "If you know that he is righteous, you 00:22:32.980 --> 00:22:40.560 may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him." If 00:22:40.620 --> 00:22:45.940 Jesus is the righteous one, our lives should emulate that. 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:49.520 And the way that we emulate that is to know his word. 00:22:51.380 --> 00:22:55.890 Let me just practically tell you just how to do that and then I'm going to move on for the rest of this section. 00:22:57.020 --> 00:22:57.980 But how do we do that? 00:22:58.460 --> 00:23:05.520 I found out in my life, in wanting to know the Lord in reading his word, when I first became a Christian I got on those Bible reading 00:23:05.520 --> 00:23:06.280 plans, right? 00:23:06.340 --> 00:23:09.510 Where you just read the Bible in a year and you try to get as much as you can done. 00:23:09.800 --> 00:23:11.560 And then what I found out is I'm really bad at that. 00:23:12.260 --> 00:23:15.980 And then it comes to Leviticus and I get extremely discouraged because I don't want to go on anymore. 00:23:16.520 --> 00:23:16.860 Right? 00:23:16.860 --> 00:23:23.620 So, if you ever thought, "I want to read God's word and how do I do this?" I can tell you in my own Christian walk, I am failure after failure at that. 00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:25.080 And I get bored by that really easy. 00:23:25.100 --> 00:23:32.140 So, I found a far better way for me, I'll just encourage you to just consider this when it comes to getting God's word in you and abiding in 00:23:32.140 --> 00:23:32.320 him. 00:23:33.300 --> 00:23:36.200 God wrote 66 manuscripts, 66 books, right? 00:23:37.180 --> 00:23:44.340 And what I found for my own life is I have a hunger to want to learn and grow, and as I know what these books are about, I will be attracted to different books 00:23:44.340 --> 00:23:45.520 at different seasons in my life. 00:23:45.620 --> 00:23:52.300 And so, what I do is I wake up one morning and I say to myself, "You know, I kind of feel this way." And like, I went through 1 and 2 Corinthians this past week. 00:23:52.600 --> 00:23:59.780 What I did is I picked up the book of 1 Corinthians, I got to know a little bit about why Paul wrote Corinthians and I became excited to see what Paul put on 00:23:59.780 --> 00:24:03.480 that page of manuscript in order for the early to church to know. 00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:10.780 Rather than just move through the whole Bible, I found that I'm far better just picking a book of the Bible and just asking the question, "Why did the writer write this?" And then moving through 00:24:10.780 --> 00:24:11.180 that book. 00:24:11.740 --> 00:24:13.360 I used to painfully just say, "You know what? 00:24:13.560 --> 00:24:14.840 A chapter or two a day, whew! 00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:19.700 I got my reading done." But now I'm like five, six chapters, I'm like, "Man, I'm just now cracking into this sucker. 00:24:19.820 --> 00:24:27.120 I really want to know more about what God says in his word." And I found my hunger for God's word grew more when it wasn't just about this legalistic 00:24:27.120 --> 00:24:30.410 idea of accomplishing a task to say I read his word. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:34.420 But rather getting to understand why the author wrote what he wrote, and meditating on his thoughts. 00:24:34.500 --> 00:24:38.440 I think a key word in the life of a Christian should be the idea of meditating. 00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:42.000 You're not reading God's word to read God's word. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:44.840 You're reading God's word to know God. 00:24:45.980 --> 00:24:47.540 Read until your soul is full. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:51.240 Read to let his word enrich you. 00:24:51.780 --> 00:24:54.840 Read to let his Spirit move through you. 00:24:55.960 --> 00:24:56.080 Read. 00:24:57.280 --> 00:24:58.020 I want to know you. 00:24:58.380 --> 00:25:02.920 It's not about waking up tomorrow and just saying, "I've got to read this." It's about saying, "God, I want to know you. 00:25:03.040 --> 00:25:03.780 I want to know you. 00:25:03.780 --> 00:25:04.340 How do I know you? 00:25:04.340 --> 00:25:05.240 I abide in you. 00:25:05.340 --> 00:25:06.160 How do I abide in you? 00:25:06.320 --> 00:25:08.460 God, you have communicated to me. 00:25:08.520 --> 00:25:12.380 And the way you have communicated to me is in your word and your Spirit moves through your word. 00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:17.780 If I can get your word in me, then I can live wisely in this world and the adversity that I face. 00:25:17.900 --> 00:25:20.980 I don't know what to always do, but God, here's what you call me to. 00:25:20.980 --> 00:25:22.140 You tell me to move in the mess. 00:25:23.120 --> 00:25:26.480 It's darkness, but you're light and your light pierces the darkness. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:33.760 So, when I can get your word in me, then it transforms how I live in this world for you." To 00:25:33.760 --> 00:25:37.260 live confidently is to know his word. 00:25:38.780 --> 00:25:41.020 You cannot impart what you do not possess. 00:25:42.520 --> 00:25:43.940 And then John builds from there. 00:25:43.940 --> 00:25:51.020 He says it like this, "If you know that he is righteous, you may be 00:25:51.020 --> 00:25:58.080 sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him." How 00:25:58.080 --> 00:25:59.300 do we live confident before God? 00:26:01.520 --> 00:26:02.960 Guys, you're going to meet God face to face. 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:07.440 How can I see his appearing confidently? 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:13.400 And John hones in on this word, righteousness. 00:26:15.540 --> 00:26:17.840 Jesus is right, he's righteous. 00:26:19.460 --> 00:26:22.860 And if you agree with that, then in your life you should also be righteous. 00:26:24.600 --> 00:26:30.720 And so, you see the surrendering to the righteousness that is Jesus, because in him being right we want to be right. 00:26:32.620 --> 00:26:34.020 How does that look in our lives? 00:26:36.140 --> 00:26:37.460 What does it mean to be righteous? 00:26:38.900 --> 00:26:44.240 One of the things I want to encourage us in thinking about, because this is a question the world wrestles with. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.580 This idea of righteousness, guys, means more than just be good. 00:26:50.080 --> 00:26:57.200 When Christians, sometimes the mistake that we make is we see this word righteous and we think, "Oh, God wants me to be good." Righteousness, if 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:03.540 you just stop with the definition of righteousness as be good, you're going to completely miss what Jesus declares to us in the Gospel. 00:27:05.340 --> 00:27:07.500 So, then he starts to explain it. 00:27:07.540 --> 00:27:11.490 And let me just contrast this thought for a minute in verse one of chapter three, he starts to explain this. 00:27:12.120 --> 00:27:18.120 And by the way, verse 26 to verse 29 I think really should be a whole nother chapter. 00:27:18.900 --> 00:27:25.660 What John says here, especially in verse 28 and 29, so I'm going to break it 28 to 29, this section should be where chapter three starts. 00:27:25.940 --> 00:27:27.490 The chapters of your Bible is not inspired. 00:27:28.100 --> 00:27:34.240 What he's saying to us is, "Look, I want to you abide, I want you to be confident, and this is what it looks like in your life." And then he begins to explain it. 00:27:34.320 --> 00:27:38.840 So, chapter three, verses one to ten is the explanation of everything he says in verse 29. 00:27:40.100 --> 00:27:47.280 So this idea of being righteous, in a religious mentality, I think people in this world are looking for acceptance, looking to belong, 00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:49.260 wanting God to be happy with them. 00:27:49.260 --> 00:27:51.580 And so, they try to achieve righteousness on their own. 00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:58.700 And so, when a religious mentality, what should then happen if he's going to explain this word righteousness after verse 29, is to explain to you all the 00:27:58.700 --> 00:28:00.040 rules that you need to follow, right? 00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:06.540 If God is righteous and then he calls you to follow the way of righteousness, then he should explain all of these rules to you. 00:28:07.760 --> 00:28:14.800 But in chapter three, verse one, look what he says, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that 00:28:14.820 --> 00:28:19.020 we should be called the children of God." And so we are. 00:28:20.820 --> 00:28:25.090 And the reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 00:28:25.800 --> 00:28:28.640 "Beloved, we are God's children now. 00:28:30.280 --> 00:28:37.500 And what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears we shall be like 00:28:37.500 --> 00:28:44.960 him, because we shall see him as he is." Verse two, let me just say, when it says we're going to be like him, it's 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:48.280 talking in terms of righteousness. 00:28:48.280 --> 00:28:50.810 Meaning you're not going to be everything that Jesus is, Jesus is eternal, you're not eternal. 00:28:51.820 --> 00:28:52.940 Jesus is God, you're not God. 00:28:54.160 --> 00:28:58.060 But what he's saying is that you're going to be like him in the sense that you're going to be righteous, or you're going to be holy. 00:28:59.460 --> 00:29:00.780 You're going to be perfect in that way. 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:05.320 That righteousness, right now in our lives, we battle with sin. 00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:10.010 And we want to walk in the way of righteousness, but one day when we see Jesus face to face, we're going to be righteous. 00:29:10.300 --> 00:29:13.220 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 00:29:14.220 --> 00:29:17.060 So everyone that hopes in him, look, he never lists a bunch of rules. 00:29:17.060 --> 00:29:22.120 It's saying he who's put his faith in Jesus, because it's Jesus one day that will make you whole in him. 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:25.180 And Jesus is the one that says that you are his child. 00:29:25.540 --> 00:29:32.540 And when you think about what it means to be righteous in Christ, the author just flips the script on religion here and just says, "Look, it's not this list of rules, it's everything 00:29:32.540 --> 00:29:34.990 that God has done for you and how incredible it is. 00:29:35.160 --> 00:29:45.200 How incredible it is, what kind of love the Father has given to us that you should be called the child of God." When 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:48.300 you think about this word righteous, it means more than simply be good. 00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:54.120 Or I should say, simply describing righteousness as being good is in fact not good. 00:29:56.100 --> 00:29:59.670 When you think about what it means to be confident before God, God wants you righteous. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:05.660 And defined as just simply being good, it leads to things that are not good. 00:30:05.960 --> 00:30:12.120 In fact, God starts to explain righteousness in a different way than that religious mentality of just doing good. 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:15.570 Righteousness in scripture means to be declared right. 00:30:17.540 --> 00:30:20.560 To be declared justified in God's eyes. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:28.400 In order to further illustrate to us what righteousness means, he then, in verse four, explains the opposite of that. 00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:31.260 And so, the contrasting of righteousness then is sin. 00:30:31.300 --> 00:30:35.960 And I want to look at both of these thoughts and I'm going to draw some conclusions on sin and righteousness. 00:30:36.040 --> 00:30:43.700 But look in verse four, "Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness." Now, 00:30:43.840 --> 00:30:49.860 if you ask someone today, "What is sin?" Sin maybe would be defined by people as doing bad, right? 00:30:50.340 --> 00:30:52.300 Not doing good things, it's doing bad. 00:30:53.300 --> 00:30:57.270 But I want us to know again, if we define righteousness as being good, we really miss the point of the Gospel. 00:30:57.560 --> 00:31:01.510 And if we define sin as simply being bad, we run the risk of missing the point of the Gospel. 00:31:02.780 --> 00:31:04.700 But look how John defines sin here. 00:31:04.700 --> 00:31:11.440 He says it like this, "Sin is lawlessness." Good definition of sin is sin is lawlessness. 00:31:11.500 --> 00:31:13.780 It's more than bad, it's different than just bad. 00:31:14.060 --> 00:31:15.120 I'm going to explain that in just a minute. 00:31:15.120 --> 00:31:16.070 But he says sin is lawlessness. 00:31:16.620 --> 00:31:18.780 And he goes and contrasts righteousness and sin here. 00:31:18.780 --> 00:31:23.890 He goes further, "You know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin. 00:31:24.220 --> 00:31:26.350 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. 00:31:26.800 --> 00:31:29.940 No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 00:31:29.980 --> 00:31:31.720 Little children, let no one deceive you. 00:31:31.760 --> 00:31:36.150 Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:38.640 Whoever makes a practice of sin is of the devil. 00:31:38.780 --> 00:31:40.660 For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. 00:31:41.220 --> 00:31:45.240 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 00:31:45.500 --> 00:31:52.600 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 00:31:52.600 --> 00:32:00.440 of God." Lawlessness, sin, it's contrasted 00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:02.780 to righteousness. 00:32:03.800 --> 00:32:10.920 Now, why do I make a big deal about making sure we see sin as lawlessness and not bad, and righteousness as 00:32:11.040 --> 00:32:12.780 being more than just simply being good? 00:32:15.290 --> 00:32:19.720 Well, let me ask you the question, what makes sin sin? 00:32:23.300 --> 00:32:24.320 What makes sin sin? 00:32:26.520 --> 00:32:30.960 The typical answer that people give is because bad things happen, right? 00:32:31.420 --> 00:32:33.380 I did something that hurt someone and bad things happened. 00:32:35.140 --> 00:32:37.180 But that's not what makes sin sin. 00:32:39.100 --> 00:32:43.540 That's the result of sin, but that's not what makes sin sin. 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:49.740 What makes sin sin is rebellion against God, which is why the author defines it as lawlessness. 00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:59.320 Every sin that we ever commit in our lives, before it ever hurt someone else, it has always first 00:32:59.320 --> 00:33:01.940 offended God and been in rebellion against him. 00:33:03.560 --> 00:33:06.220 The reason sin is sin is because of God. 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:11.680 Meaning God is the author of all things, including what is right and what is wrong. 00:33:13.060 --> 00:33:18.840 When we murder, what makes murder murder isn't because a life ceased. 00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:22.580 What makes murder murder is because God himself is life and he gave life. 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:29.880 And when we take a life, we violate the very one who created the life first of all. 00:33:31.840 --> 00:33:34.580 When we lie, lies hurt people. 00:33:34.620 --> 00:33:41.720 But what makes a lie wrong isn't that it hurt people, what makes a lie wrong is that God is truth and in him is no 00:33:41.720 --> 00:33:42.000 lie. 00:33:43.740 --> 00:33:50.140 And every sin we ever do in this world, the first thing that it is before it is anything else against someone else is it's rebellion against God. 00:33:52.280 --> 00:33:54.770 That's why the author in this passage calls it lawlessness. 00:33:56.560 --> 00:34:00.840 Now think about this, John wants you confident before the Lord. 00:34:02.740 --> 00:34:06.240 And what I've just said to everyone in this room is that we've all offended God. 00:34:08.120 --> 00:34:09.400 We've all rebelled against God. 00:34:10.760 --> 00:34:11.840 We're all lawless. 00:34:12.980 --> 00:34:15.880 Now, when you think in terms of sin just being bad, yes, it can hurt people. 00:34:16.980 --> 00:34:24.199 But when you realize the magnitude of what sin really is, and we're talking about being confident before God, all of a sudden we're thinking, does it really matter what 00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:26.000 I do to try to make myself look good at this point? 00:34:27.110 --> 00:34:32.600 I'm going to rebel against God every day, what hope do I have in righteousness, right? 00:34:32.600 --> 00:34:35.679 In fact, that is the very point of understanding righteousness. 00:34:36.020 --> 00:34:37.580 So, what makes righteousness? 00:34:37.600 --> 00:34:38.639 Is it doing good? 00:34:38.679 --> 00:34:45.600 And guys, if you do good, is that really going to undo the bad of violating against anything that you've done against God? 00:34:46.600 --> 00:34:50.600 You can do good the rest of your life, but can that really undo the bad that you've done? 00:34:51.380 --> 00:34:52.489 Can that undo the lawlessness? 00:34:53.800 --> 00:34:56.889 And we think in terms of being righteous in trying to do good things. 00:34:57.320 --> 00:35:04.180 I think scripture wants us to understand over and over that it doesn't matter how much you try, you can never live up to the holy expectations of God. 00:35:05.040 --> 00:35:06.650 We've all been lawless. 00:35:06.860 --> 00:35:14.140 In fact, look in Romans 3:20, look at this, "By the works of the law, no human being will be justified or be made right in his sight. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:21.500 But now the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law." So you see this contrast right here between the idea of 00:35:21.580 --> 00:35:24.610 doing good and what real righteousness is. 00:35:25.200 --> 00:35:32.280 He says in verse 20, "By the works of the law no flesh will be justified or made right by doing good." So how in the world can we ever be made 00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:32.640 right? 00:35:32.680 --> 00:35:39.980 Well, verse 21 he answers, "Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law." Living 00:35:39.980 --> 00:35:41.740 law will never make you right. 00:35:43.740 --> 00:35:44.540 What makes me right? 00:35:46.260 --> 00:35:50.700 The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believed. 00:35:52.980 --> 00:35:56.220 In John's day, people were coming in to the church and saying, "Look, we've got secret knowledge. 00:35:56.220 --> 00:36:03.500 I mean, what you have is good, but we need to add to this." John's saying, "No, I want you confident before the Lord in 00:36:03.500 --> 00:36:04.000 righteousness. 00:36:05.460 --> 00:36:10.100 If Jesus is right, that's your righteousness." That's what he says to us in verse 29, right? 00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:17.680 To be confident before God is not to do this performance, it's to take Jesus. 00:36:19.720 --> 00:36:22.480 It's not what you do, it's what's been done. 00:36:24.380 --> 00:36:31.400 In 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become," look, "the 00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:35.280 righteousness of God." People call this verse the great exchange. 00:36:36.940 --> 00:36:43.480 Jesus, who was perfect, became sin, so that in our sin we could be made perfect in Jesus, declared right. 00:36:45.800 --> 00:36:52.900 Galatians 2:21, "If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no 00:36:52.900 --> 00:36:59.820 purpose." What these verses are showing is, guys, we don't have the ability to be righteous. 00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:04.060 But Jesus has been righteous for us. 00:37:05.900 --> 00:37:07.340 God doesn't call us to good. 00:37:09.580 --> 00:37:12.640 And talk about being righteous, it's not be good. 00:37:13.800 --> 00:37:14.960 God doesn't call you to good. 00:37:16.860 --> 00:37:17.620 God calls you to him. 00:37:20.060 --> 00:37:23.080 Jesus is our righteousness. 00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:32.260 If you think being righteous means being good, I think there's a powerful verse to consider in scripture. 00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:39.940 Matthew 7:22, there are these individuals who come before the Lord and they say, "Lord, 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:42.120 Lord, did we not do many wonderful works in your name? 00:37:42.140 --> 00:37:49.160 Did we not cast out demons and do all these wonderful things in your name?" And if righteousness 00:37:49.160 --> 00:37:53.550 was about being good, then Jesus would have said, "Man, you guys, that was spectacular. 00:37:54.260 --> 00:37:57.080 Peter, when they're up there, open the pearlies, man, let them in. 00:37:57.100 --> 00:38:02.440 These guys have lived it on their own." But here's what Jesus says, instead, in Matthew 7. 00:38:02.440 --> 00:38:09.540 He says, "On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in 00:38:09.540 --> 00:38:10.020 your name? 00:38:10.380 --> 00:38:17.460 Did we not do these things that made us righteous?'" And look what Jesus says, "And then will 00:38:17.460 --> 00:38:21.660 I declare to them, 'I never knew you. 00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:27.160 Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.'" Look how he defines it, guys. 00:38:27.580 --> 00:38:28.020 What's sin? 00:38:28.620 --> 00:38:29.620 Sin is what? 00:38:31.160 --> 00:38:32.060 Lawlessness. 00:38:33.700 --> 00:38:39.880 And when Jesus says, "On that day," in the very beginning of verse 22, he's talking about the same thing John's talking about. 00:38:39.880 --> 00:38:42.460 When you meet God on that day, I want you to meet him confidently. 00:38:44.060 --> 00:38:47.020 And now Jesus is saying, "On that day, people are going to come to me. 00:38:47.700 --> 00:38:48.500 And you know what they're going to present? 00:38:49.700 --> 00:38:50.200 Morality. 00:38:52.160 --> 00:38:52.740 Morality. 00:38:54.020 --> 00:38:54.620 You know what they're going to present? 00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:55.360 Good. 00:38:56.420 --> 00:38:59.860 I was good." And what's Jesus going to say? 00:39:02.960 --> 00:39:10.180 "Righteousness is not achieved on your own." Guys, you'll walk out even maybe this week and you'll hear someone say this. 00:39:10.180 --> 00:39:18.320 Someone will say, "You know, as long as you're good, that's all that matters." And I 00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:22.700 would just say, for this reason I object, because Jesus did. 00:39:24.700 --> 00:39:31.080 Here's what you do, you go to people and you say, "Look, if all that matters is that you're good, can you please explain a verse to me? 00:39:32.800 --> 00:39:36.100 Look at Matthew 7, read verse 22. 00:39:37.160 --> 00:39:44.400 'On that day, many will say, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works?' And 00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:49.390 if all you need to be is good and that's all that matters, then what should Jesus say here?" Let them answer. 00:39:51.020 --> 00:39:53.840 And then you say, "But read verse 23, what does Jesus say? 00:39:56.460 --> 00:40:04.020 'Depart from me.'" In fact, I would say, not only would I object for that reason, but I would object for Galatians 00:40:04.020 --> 00:40:04.620 5. 00:40:04.860 --> 00:40:05.880 Where did Galatians 5 go? 00:40:07.280 --> 00:40:10.240 Disappeared. 00:40:10.920 --> 00:40:12.250 Our stuff's messed up, guys. 00:40:12.680 --> 00:40:19.760 Or Galatians 2:21, where Paul says, "I do not nullify 00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:26.900 the grace of God." Listen to that, "I do not nullify the grace of God." Galatians 2:21, "For if righteousness 00:40:26.900 --> 00:40:34.360 could be achieved through the law, Christ died needlessly." If we're saying being good is all that matters, what 00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:37.110 we're also saying is what Jesus did didn't matter. 00:40:38.460 --> 00:40:39.240 It's spitting on the cross. 00:40:41.140 --> 00:40:43.540 Why in the world would Jesus do what he did if it didn't matter? 00:40:45.180 --> 00:40:47.500 So, where does righteousness come from? 00:40:48.240 --> 00:40:49.180 It comes from Jesus. 00:40:50.820 --> 00:40:52.350 You want to be confident before the Lord? 00:40:52.520 --> 00:40:56.940 Don't add things to Jesus, don't work yourself to God, you can't get there. 00:40:58.400 --> 00:40:59.980 Accept what Jesus has already done. 00:41:00.020 --> 00:41:07.120 Now, here comes the kicker in all these questions people ask, is, "Well, when you think about that, then why in the world would anyone do 00:41:07.120 --> 00:41:12.540 anything good?" Well, John started to argue that for us in chapter three. 00:41:13.900 --> 00:41:22.980 "See what kind of love the Father has given to us that would should be called the children of God." People 00:41:22.980 --> 00:41:26.080 in this world want desperately to belong. 00:41:28.760 --> 00:41:29.790 They want to know they matter. 00:41:32.160 --> 00:41:40.000 And what Jesus is saying is that we matter, because Jesus came for us, Jesus died for us, Jesus 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:43.460 loved us by giving his very life for us. 00:41:43.820 --> 00:41:45.700 Who has ever loved you that way? 00:41:48.380 --> 00:41:56.340 And so, John is saying the reason that we respond in any way to God and his righteousness is because of Christ's righteousness because 00:41:56.340 --> 00:41:58.940 we see everything that Jesus has done for us. 00:42:00.680 --> 00:42:05.690 And so, John's encouragement for you in light of all that is to abide in him. 00:42:07.240 --> 00:42:07.860 To know him. 00:42:09.520 --> 00:42:14.030 And to know him in his word and to walk in that righteousness. 00:42:14.240 --> 00:42:15.540 How do you walk in that righteousness? 00:42:16.960 --> 00:42:24.100 It's because of what Christ has done for you now, in that love that he has demonstrated, surrender your life to him 00:42:25.160 --> 00:42:28.210 and live for his glory because of what Christ has done. 00:42:29.680 --> 00:42:36.840 You want to walk confidently before the Lord with everything that you are, lay your life down 00:42:36.840 --> 00:42:38.060 to belong to Jesus. 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:44.860 It's not about good or bad, it's about understanding the picture of lawlessness or righteousness. 00:42:46.040 --> 00:42:50.840 Rebel against the King or embrace the goodness that he's brought to us on the cross.