Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has
for us here today.
Let's go ahead and get our Bibles out and turn to First John
one John, chapter number three.
We've gone through the first two chapters here in First John,
and just by way of review, we have to remember who.
Who is obviously John writing to.
Obviously we would say, well, us, because we're reading this, but
the context of First John is that he's writing to Christians.
And.
And I need to clarify that before we get any further because
we're going to get into a very difficult passage here this evening
that some people take out of context and actually will say that
because we believe in God, that we have an opportunity to sin
no longer.
Like.
Like, we don't need to deal with the flesh.
And we're going to see here tonight that if we take it in context,
we understand what.
What John is getting across to us through the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit.
But before we do that, we're going to look at verse one, and verse
one is one of those amazing verses that reminds us of the love
of Christ, reminds us of how much God really loved us, that he
would not only die for us, but then also call us children.
And.
And it says in verse one, behold, take note of what manner
of love or what type of love the Father has bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God.
And that's a wonderful verse.
That's a verse that we can all maybe memorize or at least remember
the concept of.
When we get into times in our life where we are tempted to think
that God doesn't love us, or we're tempted to think that, you
know, maybe someone else that has stopped loving us has caused
us to lose our worth or our value.
I don't.
I don't know if you've ever struggled with that, but there are
people that wrap up their identity in.
And their value in who loves them.
And, you know, it's great to be loved.
I mean, I love the fact that there are people that tell me that
they love me.
I love the fact that my children love me, my wife loves me,
but at the end of the day, my whole identity cannot be wrapped
up in people's approval of me and love for Me, my identity must
be wrapped up in the fact that Christ loves me.
And I think so many times we go outside of the.
The lines of Scripture and we say, you know what?
I find my worth in my job, or I find my worth in my role as a parent,
or I find my value or my worth in the amount of money that I have
in my bank account.
And all of those things can be good things.
But at the end of the day, what we have to summarize our worth
and our value in is the fact that God loves us and that God has
given his only begotten Son for us.
And therefore our identity is in Him.
I am a child of God.
The very first thing I should do when I'm introducing myself to
people is not, hey, I'm, you know, Josh Massaro, pastor of Middletown
Baptist Church.
I should say, hey, I'm Josh Massaro, child of the one true king.
I am the one who has been forgiven.
And so he says, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
upon us.
Now think about that.
Think of, think of the type of love that God gives us.
The fact that in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.
Folks, this is that beautiful type of love that really can only
be found in, in God.
We're going to see later on in First John that it says not only
is God loving, which we would all agree with, but that God is love
and that we love him because he first loved us.
And so he says, hey, this is what it's all about.
Understanding God's love for us and understanding that when we
come to know him in faith, we are sons of God.
We are children of God.
And so that's the beauty of it, that, that God has given us an
opportunity not just to be saved from our sin, which is amazing
in and of itself, but then now we are adopted into the family of
God.
Now we have all the benefits of being in the family of God, all
the blessings, all of the inheritance of being in the family
of God.
And so he says, this is the type of love that God has for us,
that we are his children, that.
That.
That we understand his love.
And it says there at the end of verse one, therefore the world
knoweth us not, meaning we are not of the world.
And you've heard the statement before.
You know, we're in the world, but we're not of the world.
The identity here is that the world cannot understand this type
of love.
The world cannot understand what, what it means to be in the
family of God.
Why?
Because the World, as it says here, because it knew him not.
And we already looked through that in First John, chapter one and
chapter two.
And this idea that we should not love the things of the world,
neither the love not the world, or neither the things that
are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
And so the world cannot understand the love of God because
they rejected him.
And, and that's still today.
We can describe the love of God to people, but until they taste
of that love, till they understand that love, until they
are adopted into the family of God, it'll seem foreign to them.
And then he goes on to say a little bit further what it means
to be a child of God.
That's why we know he's speaking to Christians here.
We.
We know that he's speaking to Christians because he says, hey,
guys, understand.
Recognize the love of God and the love of God that he has for his
children.
Verse two, beloved.
And so he's referencing Christians now.
Are we the sons of God?
And it doth not yet appear what we shall be.
Meaning this, we have the understanding of knowing that we
are children of God, but we don't completely, even at this point,
understand all the benefits of that.
There's no way for us to completely understand what it means
to have the full inheritance of being a child of God.
Now, certainly, the Bible speaks to many different blessings
that we have as Christians.
Ultimately, we know that we have our eternal destination with
him in heaven.
And we ultimately know that one day there will be no more pain,
there will be no more suffering.
But what he says here is that we don't know exactly how it all
will be, but he does say this.
But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for
we shall see him as he is.
Now, there are many people that actually use this verse to,
to teach a heresy, that one day we will all be gods.
And that's not what this is saying here, okay?
So we have to be very careful about this because there are some
people in the world today that will preach and teach that, hey,
if we are believers, we are actually little gods.
We.
We are underneath God.
But, yes, we are still our own gods.
And that can lead us down a really bad path because ultimately,
if we see ourselves as little gods, we'll begin to worship ourselves.
And that's a very humanistic, a very selfish way to see ourselves.
But.
But what is he actually saying here?
He.
He basically says this.
We're not completely left in the dark and knowing about our future
state.
But we don't know completely what it means until ultimately we
will be reunited with Him.
And so this reminds us that even though we are as Christians,
we are justified.
And then we are on the process of sanctification.
And sometimes you'll hear that word sanctification, and that's a
tricky word because it can mean a few different things.
When it comes to Scripture, we have in our salvation what we would
call positional sanctification.
Meaning that word sanctification literally just means
to be set aside for a specific use, set aside to make special, to
make holy.
And so in our salvation, we are taken out of sin and moved to
salvation.
That's.
That's what we would call positional sanctification.
But then at the moment we are saved, we are on a spiritual growth
process.
And many people call this progressive sanctification.
So, so we're all.
Hopefully, if we're walking in the will of God, as First John, chapter
two, talked about, if we're walking in fellowship with God, we.
We are growing closer to him and more like him in that process.
But none of us will reach complete sanctification until one
day we will be in our glorified state.
We will be like him in that regard.
We won't be God, but we will be there in that place where we are
unhindered and in the presence of God and not bound by the flesh.
We're not bound by the things of this world.
And so ultimately, we know that that is the culmination, the
glorification of what we will be one day.
And so when it says we shall be like him, it's not saying that
we will be perfectly like God and we can be our own God.
But what it's saying here is that one day we will be without sin
when we are spending eternity with him, and so we shall be like
Him.
John makes the connection between seeing him as he is and ultimately
understanding that transformation of being in our glorified
state.
And so one day we can.
We can long for that day.
And today we can long for that day.
And then he says, and every man that hath this hope, so the hope
of being with him one day, the hope of glorification, the hope of
completely being reunited with Him.
And every man that had this hope in him purifies himself.
Now, again, we have to be careful with this wording because
we don't purify ourselves.
What it's essentially saying is this in our faith and in our hope,
that that brings purification to our lives, even as he is Pure.
So it's, it's speaking to this idea of being more set aside to be
like God, to walk like him, to desire his desires, to.
To walk not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
Verse four is where we could get to a place where we could begin
to be confused because it says whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law.
For sin is the transgression of the law.
So that's basically him explaining this.
When we sin, we are breaking God's law.
When, when we sin, we are living in a state of lawlessness.
So before we become a Christian, that is completely what
our state is.
The Bible says in many places that we are.
We are dead in our sins, that we are an enemy of God.
We are separated from God.
And so to live in sin means to live in lawlessness.
To live in sin means I'm breaking myself from the will of
God and doing I want to do.
And, and so that's really what he's explaining here.
He's saying, what is sin?
Sin in its deepest form is.
Is rebellion against God.
And so, so John defines sin in, in what we would say is the most
basic route.
And that is a disregard for the truth of God, a disregard for
not only his law, but the one who makes that law.
And so he goes on a little bit further and says this and verse five,
and ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins,
and in him is no sin.
So the idea is this.
God in verse 5, there God sends His only begotten Son, Jesus,
who knew no sin, to take away our sin, so that he paid the penalty
for our sin.
So this is the immediate accomplishment of God when it shows
of.
Of his love and his grace to us.
Jesus is the perfect example of that.
And he says, and we know that he was manifested Jesus to take away
our sins, and in him is no sin.
So the one who knew no sin became sin for us.
Second Corinthians, chapter 5.
But then again, it goes a little bit further, and this is where
we're going to see something interesting.
It says, Verse 6, Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.
Okay, so if you were to read that verse in an isolated sense,
it would say that if we are believers, we won't sin anymore.
Okay, let's go a little bit further.
Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
So again, if you're reading that on its own, you would say, well,
wait, I sin today.
Does that mean that I don't know him?
I. I sin today.
Does that mean that I have not experienced his grace?
Am I not living in.
In.
In fellowship with him if I commit a sin?
Well, he's going to say a little bit more here.
Little children, let no man deceive you.
He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous.
Meaning those that are doing righteousness are following the will
of God.
Why?
Because God's will is that we are righteous.
And God's just truth is that he is always righteous.
He that committeth sin is of the devil.
For the devil sinneth from the beginning.
So he says, when an individual is walking in righteousness, he or
she is walking in the will of God.
If an individual is walking in sin, he is walking in the will of
the enemy Satan, as it says there.
He committeth sin.
He's of the devil.
For the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested.
So the whole reason, as the Bible says here, that Jesus comes
to save us is because the devil had the grip on humanity through
sin.
And he says, why?
That he might destroy the works of the devil, that he would
destroy evil, that he would destroy all those evil things that
were defining the world.
And verse 9.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.
Now, again, this is a passage of Scripture that many people preached
today that basically says that we can reach sinless perfection.
There.
There is a group of Christians today that teach that if you are
holy enough, if you love God enough, you can reach a point where
the flesh has no more effect upon you.
But.
But we're going to.
We're going to dig a little deeper here, because again, that's
going to be contradictory to what John has already said.
Let's go a little bit further.
He says, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin
because he is born of God.
In this, the children of God are manifest.
And the children of the devil, whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
So we're going to stop there right now, and I want us just to
go back to a few verses before, a few chapters before, because
this is going to give us an understanding that he's not specifically
talking about.
A Christian can never sin anymore.
If a Christian sins, he loses his salvation.
No, because.
And what, what does it say?
One John, chapter two.
Okay, look at first John, chapter two, verse one.
He's going to explain that there is still an opportunity for
a Christian to sin.
And what we have in that in the hope of our Heavenly Father.
So it says in, in First John, chapter two, my little children.
So we know that he's speaking to believers there, okay, These things
write I unto you that ye sin not.
But then he goes, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but
also for the sins of the world.
So he just says here, hey, Christians, we're writing these things
to you.
I'm writing these things to you so that you don't sin, but when
you do sin, you have an advocate with the Father.
There's forgiveness, there's restoration, there's room for repentance,
there's room for that revival, that change of heart.
And then you might say, well, yeah, but maybe he's just talking
to people that are, are coming to Christ, but they, they haven't
come to Christ completely yet.
And when they understand Christ completely as their advocate,
they will never sin again.
We'll go back a little bit further.
Go back to First John, chapter one, verse eight.
He says, and again, remember, in First John, he's speaking to Christians.
He says, if we say that we have no sin, okay, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And so just right there, we see in context, he's not talking
about this time in our life where we can finally reach sinless
perfection.
He says, if you say that you have no sin, you're lying, you're
deceiving yourself, and the truth is not in us.
And so what is he talking about there in First John, chapter
three?
Well, we know biblically speaking, because we have to understand
the context.
We have to understand the Bible as one message that all human
beings are born with a sin nature.
The Bible teaches that we are all still dealing with the flesh.
I want you to see a few different passages of scripture that
deal with that.
We already looked at First John, chapter one, verse eight.
We say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us.
But if you go over to Romans, Romans chapter seven tells us a similar
thing, that even though that we are saved, even though that we
have been born again, even though we've been called to a new
life, we are still wrestling with the flesh.
And Paul speaks of that here in Romans, chapter seven.
And I want you to see this, because anytime we see something
In Scripture that might seem contradictory.
We need to see the bigger picture, and we need to understand
what the Bible says about a specific topic and.
And what I've come to realize in my life, that if I am confused
and if I don't understand and if I think there's a contradiction,
the problem is not God.
The problem is me.
And maybe I'm overlooking something or maybe I just can't understand.
So let's look at Romans chapter seven, and let's see what
Paul says about the sin nature and how we are still dealing with
sin in our life.
Romans chapter 7, verse 14 says, for we know that the law is
spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
For for that which I do I allow not for what I would, that
do I not, but what I hate, that I that do I.
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law
that it is good now, then it is no more that I that I do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing,
for to will is present with me.
But how to perform which is not, with which is good, I find not.
So.
That's some hard language to talk about, but he basically goes
all the way down here and he starts talking about verse 23.
But I see another law in my members warring against the law of
my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which
is in my members.
Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but
with the flesh, the law of sin.
And so what does he say here?
He says there's still that battle that's going on between the
law and sin and.
And the Spirit.
And then there's this idea that, okay, I can't keep the law
and I'm not perfect.
So what does that mean?
Does that mean that the Spirit's not strong enough?
The Spirit is not going to change me?
No.
The Bible says that there's that battle between the sin and the
flesh and the spirit.
So this applies to unbelievers, but I believe it applies
to believers as well.
And so the difference is, is that before we come to Christ, we
can't do anything else but sin.
That's our nature.
But as Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17 tells us that
we are changed.
The Holy Spirit now indwells us.
We're new creations.
And so Romans chapter Six says that we are no longer slaves to sin.
We're no longer a servant to sin.
That means this.
We'll still have a battle, but we no longer have that as our identity
anymore.
Sin is no longer our identity.
Our identity is the Spirit.
So a Christian should never be complacent and comfortable and regular
in sin.
So that's what he's talking about here.
So the Holy Spirit empowers believers to live for righteousness.
So I don't believe that sinless perfection is a, is, is attainable
in this life.
And so what, what do we, what do we.
How do we reconcile this?
Well, if you go back to the original Greek and you look at the
tense in verse number nine and really up even higher, where in verse
number six, when he's talking about abiding, he's specifically
talking about living in or making it your identity, making it
your lifestyle.
And so what we can see here is that, yes, sin is evil.
God does not want us to sin.
And even as we see in verses 4 through 10 in First John, it strongly
condemns sin.
It warns believers that after salvation, there's no excuse that
we do sin.
We can't just say, well, I'm a human so I can get away with my sin.
No, the, the reality is, is that we're still dealing with that,
but the believer should have a new desire for good, a new desire
for righteousness.
And so what is he saying here?
He's essentially saying this.
Whether you agree with this or not, I believe that he's saying this,
that a Christian cannot live and abide and sin forever and feel
no conviction.
Okay?
A Christian can fall into a sense of backsliding.
A Christian can fall into a sense of carnality.
But in that carnality should come conviction.
Now, some people say, well, how long should that last?
I don't have an answer for that.
And some people say, well, how long can a Christian be backslidden?
I don't know if I can look at that and say, well, at three years,
if they're still backslidden, they're probably not Christian.
That's not my job to say.
All I'm saying is that the Scriptures say that if there's a
person who is born again that has the Holy Spirit indwelling them
and is abiding in the truth, they will no longer be comfortable
with sin.
It will not be something that they will desire for an extended
amount of time.
And, and so this is difficult for many of us because we've been
taught that if a person just Prays a prayer and believe, and,
and says that they believe in God, that hey, they're, they're going
to heaven.
And, and I, I'm not there to say that a person can't believe and
then continue on in sin.
But what I am saying is that the Bible says that that is not the
character, that is not the identity of a Christian.
And so, so this is a challenge for me because there's, there's,
there's many people in this world that I want to believe are
saved.
They said a prayer, but if you look at their life, there's no conviction,
there's no repentance.
They're comfortable in sin, they're hungry for sin and sin is
where they're comfortable.
That's what they're identified as.
The Bible says here that that individual is in a dangerous place
because they're in contradiction to Scripture.
So, so giving into sin is no longer a norm for a child of God.
That's what it's saying here.
And so if you go back to that verse, he says whoso abideth in him,
meaning living in him, living in fellowship with Him.
That opportunity to, to walk with him means that if we are walking
with him in the Spirit, we will not sin.
But none of us can completely walk in the Spirit.
The, the Bible, if you, if you have time and you want to look this
up, look at Galatians chapter 5 and you will see really throughout
all the book of Galatians, you're going to see that the Bible
says that if we are walking in the Spirit, we will not sin.
You can't be walking in the Spirit and sin.
It's when we go into our flesh.
And so that's the whole idea of Galatians chapter 5.
And even throughout that book is this understanding of if, if we
are walking in the Spirit, we will have those, the fruit of the
Spirit manifested in our life.
If we're walking in the flesh, what's going to be?
Man have manifested the works of the flesh.
So, so what is it saying here?
It's saying this genuine Christians DNA is not to live a life
of unrepentant sin.
A genuine Christian DNA is to hunger after the righteousness of
God.
Will they stumble?
Yes.
Will there be failures?
Yes.
But going back to 1 John 1:9, it tells us what to do when we sin.
If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our
sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It brings us back to that fellowship.
And so a, so a person who claims to be a Christian, but says,
I don't feel conviction.
I don't feel sorry for my sin.
I don't even think this is a sin.
But they're openly in rebellion to God and there's no conviction.
The Bible says that that is not the character of a believer.
Now, I'm not preaching lordship salvation.
What lordship salvation is is that if you're not fully walking
in the will of God, you can't be saved.
That's not what I'm saying.
What I am saying is that what the Bible says is that the character
of a Christian should not be just to continue on in sin and just
be comfortable in that.
The way that I had it explained to me one time from.
From one of my mentors was this.
You can go fishing and you can catch a fish.
And maybe for some reason, someone catches and releases a fish,
okay?
Maybe it's not the right size and they pull it out, but they still
want to take a picture.
That fish can live outside of the water for a specific period of
time, but that's not the way that they've been designed to live.
Okay?
If you keep a fish out of water for a certain amount of time,
they're eventually going to die.
It's not in their identity to be outside of that water.
And when you put that fish back in the water, they're back into
the state that they are in.
That's their natural state, the way that God ordained it to be.
And he explained it to me that way in the fact that a Christian
can live outside of the will of God.
But it should be so uncomfortable, it should be so different,
that they're longing or at least fighting the conviction of
the Spirit to come back to the will of God.
And so believers have the power.
Now, see, see, before a person is a believer, there is no power
to overcome sin.
So there's nothing we can do other than sin.
But as a Christian now we have the Holy Spirit living within us
so that we can conquer sin through the power of God.
And so believers have the power through God to overcome sin
and temptation.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit lives within them.
I want you to see a passage of scripture that speaks to that.
It's First Corinthians, chapter 10.
First Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13.
It tells us this idea that God empowers the believer to always have
an opportunity to have victory over sin in their life.
Okay?
Because what.
What happens sometimes with us as Christians is that we have.
The Bible says we have sins that more easily beset us.
There's some sins that people are tending to lean to because of
their certain fleshly inclinations.
What does that mean?
That.
That means sometimes that Christians can get comfortable with
certain sins and justify certain sins, but then hate other
sins.
And the Bible says, though, and I've even heard some Christians
say, you know what?
That's one sin that I just can't get victory over.
Well, that can be a statement in the fact that maybe you're not
relying on God to give you that victory.
But the Bible says, theologically speaking, that there
always is an opportunity for victory over sin.
Doesn't mean that will be sinless, but it means that that sin
will no longer have bondage over us.
And so in First Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13, it says this.
There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful who will not suffer or allow you to be tempted
above that you're able, but with what will, with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
And so the Bible says here that through the power of the Spirit,
he always gives us an opportunity to, with the power of
God to overcome a sin in our life.
And so a child of God that is growing in maturity, a child of God
that is growing in fellowship, will, I believe, increasingly grow
closer to God and reflect God's character in his life or in
her life.
And so if a person claims to be a Christian but that lives in
rebellion against God's word and pursues that, that sin, willfully
wants that sin, it is one of the signs in Scripture that says
that that person might not be a believer.
Now, again, I cannot go into someone's mind and know if they're
willfully sinning or they're sinning and they're struggling with
that.
That's not my job.
Okay, so let's say someone's sinning and I look at them, I go,
they want that sin.
So they're definitely not safe.
Who knows what kind of struggle that they're going through
in their life.
God might be making them miserable through the conviction
of the Spirit.
And, and so again, that's not my job to sit here and go, every
person that's sinning can't be a Christian.
No, I, I again cannot know the heart of an individual.
All I can say and teach is this.
The Bible says that a Christian will desire the things
of God.
And so believers are born again.
They've become new creations.
The old has left, as 2 Corinthians, chapter 5 says, and
so what we can see here as.
As what first John is saying is that if you want to walk in fellowship
with God, if you want to say that you're walking in fellowship
with God, you have to say that you're walking in his will.
And if you're walking in his will, you will not be living in a
place of unrepentant sin.
Again, I say unrepentant sin because the idea that we all will
sin.
But what does one John one say come back in repentance, brokenness.
That's why conviction is such a.
We don't often talk about the beauty of conviction.
We talk about the comfort of the Holy Spirit, which is.
Which is one of his greatest works.
The comfort.
He's the comforter.
The Bible also says that he's the convictor.
And a lot of times we stiff arm, we push away the conviction
of the Holy Spirit.
But actually, the Holy Spirit's conviction is a tool, It's
a blessing, It's a demonstration of the love of God
in our lives.
And so one of the things that I've been working on recently and
I've been striving to do is that when that Holy Spirit conviction
comes, don't run from that.
Embrace it and say, lord, what do you want me to do?
What do I need to change to get back right with you?
And that's the whole importance of this.
It's not a matter, and I would word it this way, it's not a matter
of whether or not a Christian will sin.
It's a matter of how the Christian responds to that sin in
his or her life.
That's really what it is.
We will sin, but how do we respond to that sin?
Is it something that we've become desensitized to?
The Bible speaks of a seared conscience, which essentially comes
through quenching the Spirit.
And the Bible says grieving the spirit, meaning rejecting the
conviction.
And the Bible eventually says that there's going to be this place
in our life where I believe a Christian can get to a place of a
seared conscience.
But the Bible then speaks of that being a place where it's miserable.
I mean, we don't want to be one of the examples that I've used
before.
Some of the most miserable people that I've been a part of,
and some of the most miserable points in my life have been in the
fact that I know the love of God and I know the presence of God,
but yet I'm not in that place.
And so a Christian that's living in sin should be uncomfortable.
It should be a place of like, this isn't right.
And eventually getting that as quickly as possible right with God.
And so it's how we deal with sin, how we view sin do.
It's so easy for us to buddy up with the sin that feels comfortable
in our culture or in our society.
I get it, I understand it.
It's all around us.
And one of the things that would happen.
I, I think I've used this analogy before.
I only have so many analogies, so be patient with me if you've heard
this one before.
But when we were, when I was in college, we, our freshman dorm,
we were all in the freshman dorm.
And I don't know if you've ever been around a freshman boys
dorm, but there's some stenches that come out of that dorm.
And I remember being like, I can't go.
We had this communal shower room.
We had this.
And I had, you know, we had roommates and there was like all
this like, smell.
But after a while, like, I started getting used to that smell
and I didn't even think about it anymore.
And then we would have visitors come in.
My parents would come in, they'd be like, man, what's that
smell?
You guys do your laundry?
And it's like, no, it smells fine in here.
It's like when we're, when you're around something so much and
it's permeates our culture and it permeates our world, we get to
a place where it no longer becomes like, obtrusive.
It no longer becomes detestable.
We go, oh, that's okay.
I'm used to it.
And I'm not saying that we have to go around living like a monk
and avoiding the world because we're in the world.
But the reality is, is that it should still.
Sin should still shock us.
We no longer live in a world where there's shame.
I mean, just turn on any, any like device.
There's no more shame anymore.
And there should be shame.
We should be ashamed of our sin.
I should be ashamed when I don't respond the way that God's
will tells me to respond.
And so as a Christian, okay, the unsaved world is going to act
with, with that mindset.
Why?
Because they don't have the Holy Spirit.
So it's, it's completely understandable that an unsaved person
will live with no shame.
But the problem comes is when a Christian lives like an unsaved
person and there's sh.
And there's no more Shame.
And so I, I want to just go back to First John chapter three
and I want us to read these verses again with that frame of mind,
okay?
Because when I read First John chapter three many times, even recently,
I'm like, man, that kind of sounds a little legalistic, like
we can't sin.
Like I, I can't.
Who, how many of us could hold that standard?
None of us could live without sin.
So we know that that's not what he's talking about.
So let's go back with that frame of mind abiding.
Remember what Jesus said in John 15.
He says, Abide in me, live in me, fellowship with me.
So let's go back with that in mind and read verses 4 through the
end of verse 10.
It says whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law.
So again he's defining sin, for sin is the transgression of the
law.
And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins
and in him his sin is no sin.
So meaning this.
The only hope to our sin is Jesus Christ.
The only hope of being in bondage and having our identity in
sin is Jesus Christ, verse 5, or excuse me, verse 6.
Whosoever abideth in him lives.
I mean that's talking about living your life, your extended amount
of time.
So the Greek tense would be happening now and continuing on like,
like it's your lifestyle, it's your identity.
Okay?
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.
Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Meaning if you are walking in a lifestyle of sin, you're not recognizing
him, you're not recognizing his will.
Little children, let no man deceive you.
So what that means is that there's going to be people who try
to deceive you in this.
Let no man deceive you.
He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous.
Now again, there is non righteous, no, not one.
So where does this righteousness come from?
It's the righteousness of God imparted to us in our life.
It's the fruit of the spirit.
It's what God empowers us to be.
If you we'll go to let's really quickly.
I know I'm taking a long time here, but I want you to see this
in John 15.
This is an amazing truth.
It actually when I read it, when I wasn't walking with God because
transparency time.
There have been periods of my life prior to ministry as a young
man, as a teenager, where I wasn't desiring the things of God.
And when I read this verse, it made me upset.
My flesh got mad.
John 15:5.
When I read this verse, when I was walking outside of the will of
God, I was like, no, I don't want, don't want that.
Because our flesh wants to fight against what this verse says.
It says, I am divine.
Jesus says, I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit.
This is what got me upset.
For without me, you can do nothing.
Meaning you're hopeless without me.
You can't do anything without me.
That means you can't even be righteous without him.
You can't do good without him.
And so when we go back to first John, chapter three, he says,
okay, let no man deceive you.
He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous.
Meaning you, you can't expect to do your own righteousness.
It's the righteousness of God.
That is a proof of God working in our life.
When I, when I, when I live like Christ, when I act like Christ,
when, when I have the fruit of the Spirit manifested in my life,
it just means that I'm tapped into the power of God.
He is the vine, we are the branches.
He that committeth sin, again, long term commitment, living in sin
is of the devil.
Meaning I'm in rejection to God, I'm in rebellion to God.
For the devil sinneth from the beginning.
That's his character, that's his life.
That's all he can do is sin.
For this purpose, the Son of God, Jesus was manifested.
Jesus came that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God.
Okay, New life reborn in Christ.
John 3.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit or live in sin, for his
seed remaineth in him, meaning my identity is in him.
I am a child of God.
And he cannot sin because he is born of God.
In this, the children of God are manifest and the children of
the devil, meaning they will show themselves.
They will show who they are following by what they do in their
life.
Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.
And then this is where he tags it along here.
Because a lot of people say, well, I love God and I'm doing righteousness,
but I cannot stand other people.
All right, there, that's, he's, he's gonna get to the point
of this.
You, you love the way you love other people is showing how you love
God.
That's what he's saying.
He says, neither he that loveth not his brother.
And then he goes on to talk about loving and deed and in truth
and in word, and indeed.
And he goes on to talk about that.
We're going to come back to that passage a little bit later on
in our studies.
So, again, this is a difficult passage, and if read in an isolated
setting, would be the place where, hey, you can.
You can be perfect, and if you're not perfect, there's something
wrong with you.
Let me just give you the understanding that none of us are
perfect, but the one that we are trusting in is perfect.
But that doesn't give us an excuse to continue on in sin.
We're going to talk about this on Sunday morning.
Come back for Romans 6.
Because Romans 6 is a challenge to say, you know what?
We live in a society today.
I've heard pastors get up and say this, that, hey, we're all just
humans.
You're going to sin.
We all sin.
So just, you know what?
Just.
You give, not give into it, but essentially like, it's going
to happen.
Expect it.
Don't ever expect sin.
Don't ever get desensitized to that.
Never get to a place where it's like, well, you know what?
It's okay.
Yeah, we all are sinners, but it's not okay.
That's why we need to fight as hard as we can in the power of God
to live pure and righteous, holy lives.
It's.
Someone said, well, God already knows that we're going to
sin.
Why do, why do we need to try to not sin?
Isn't he all in control?
Well, God has laid out the perfect standard for us.
The perfect standard.
That's his desire and his heart for us.
Does he know that we're going to sin?
Yes.
But that doesn't mean it's a justification just to continue on
and sin.
Do I know that my children are going to keep disobeying me in my
life?
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm not under the impression that my children are perfect.
I'm not under the impression that my children will ever reach
that place where they're perfectly obedient.
But does that mean that I stop trying to get them to a place where
I want them to become more obedient and better citizens and
better Christians?
No.
That just shows, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
Meaning this.
God loves us so much that he wants to keep perfecting us to that
place of maturity so that one day we can get to a place where we
are ultimately culminated in him and grow in that relationship
with him and then ultimately be glorified when we see him face
to face.
And so it's a difficult thing.
It's a difficult thing to preach because sometimes when we
preach holiness, people get upset because they say, well, that's,
that's just a bunch of legalism, bunch of fundamentalists.
At the same time, sometimes that preach, people that preach holiness
will be legalistic.
So the idea would be, is to not go on either side of the fence
when it comes to the problem.
Okay?
The problem for some people is they're too lax.
Just do whatever you want to do.
The problem is, is that that, that can lead to a place of living
in open sin.
Specifically for Christians.
The other side of the fence is you can never sin.
And when you sin, you mess up.
And God's he's going to keep punishing you.
He's going to keep punishing you.
Well, that's not what the Bible says either.
The Bible says that we should strive for holiness, but when we
stumble, we rely on the strength of God and the conviction
of the Holy Spirit to bring us back to a place of restoration.
It's always about restoration and bringing us back to fellowship
with him.
And that's how we should treat other people that fall into sin.
Like, we all want grace.
We all want patience.
We all want, we all want people to be patient with us.
We all want God to be gracious to us.
But then what happens?
Sometimes when someone sins against me, I just go, well, that's
it, you know, cutting them off.
We, we should extend the same type of grace and patience and forgiveness
and restoration that God extends to us every time we fall
short.
And I think that that could be something that we can learn from
as well there.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
If you would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro, Middletown BaptistChurch.com
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Thank you so much.
God bless.
Have a wonderful day.