1 00:00:00,728 --> 00:00:04,764 Okay. 2 00:00:04,764 --> 00:00:06,822 The first thing that I want 3 00:00:06,822 --> 00:00:15,338 to point out to you here is this: 4 00:00:15,338 --> 00:00:21,333 I cut my teeth as a Christian 5 00:00:21,333 --> 00:00:25,442 when I was saved back in 1990, 6 00:00:25,442 --> 00:00:30,460 the greater part of the first ten years 7 00:00:30,460 --> 00:00:35,113 of my life as a Christian, 8 00:00:35,113 --> 00:00:38,716 I read from the King James Version. 9 00:00:38,716 --> 00:00:46,959 And I just want you to know 10 00:00:46,959 --> 00:00:48,906 that the King James Version 11 00:00:48,906 --> 00:00:52,861 and the New King James Version 12 00:00:52,861 --> 00:00:59,680 in these verses sounds a whole lot more absolute 13 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,494 than what we just read in the ESV. 14 00:01:03,494 --> 00:01:05,001 Now listen to these verses. 15 00:01:05,001 --> 00:01:06,515 I'm going to quote to you 16 00:01:06,515 --> 00:01:08,017 from the New King James 17 00:01:08,017 --> 00:01:11,812 which is very similar to the King James. 18 00:01:11,812 --> 00:01:14,201 But in 1 John 3:6, 19 00:01:14,201 --> 00:01:16,459 the New King James reads this way: 20 00:01:16,459 --> 00:01:24,427 "Whoever abides in Him does not sin." 21 00:01:24,427 --> 00:01:28,214 Period. 22 00:01:28,214 --> 00:01:31,935 "Whoever sins has neither seen Him 23 00:01:31,935 --> 00:01:35,527 nor known Him." 24 00:01:35,527 --> 00:01:39,387 Again, the New King James in 1 John 3:8. 25 00:01:39,387 --> 00:01:44,790 "He who sins is of the devil." 26 00:01:44,790 --> 00:01:48,029 Again, 1 John 3:9, 27 00:01:48,029 --> 00:01:50,791 "Whoever has been born of God 28 00:01:50,791 --> 00:02:00,520 does not sin. 29 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:02,025 For His seed remains in Him 30 00:02:02,025 --> 00:02:04,831 and he cannot sin 31 00:02:04,831 --> 00:02:07,319 because he's been born of God." 32 00:02:07,319 --> 00:02:11,205 Now look, we have to be honest, 33 00:02:11,205 --> 00:02:12,956 and we have to admit - 34 00:02:12,956 --> 00:02:17,465 let me just clarify something. 35 00:02:17,465 --> 00:02:19,095 When the King James Version 36 00:02:19,095 --> 00:02:21,272 and the New King James Versions 37 00:02:21,272 --> 00:02:28,817 translate those verses that way, 38 00:02:28,817 --> 00:02:31,881 they are not doing any sort of injustice 39 00:02:31,881 --> 00:02:34,394 to the original. 40 00:02:34,394 --> 00:02:40,007 They are translating that faithfully. 41 00:02:40,007 --> 00:02:42,605 And I think we all have to admit, 42 00:02:42,605 --> 00:02:45,612 when we take those verses 43 00:02:45,612 --> 00:02:50,138 at literal face value, 44 00:02:50,138 --> 00:02:53,228 honestly, it definitely sounds like 45 00:02:53,228 --> 00:02:55,428 it's teaching Christian perfection. 46 00:02:55,428 --> 00:02:57,450 I mean, we just have to be honest with it. 47 00:02:57,450 --> 00:03:00,309 Like I say, the New King James Version right there, 48 00:03:00,309 --> 00:03:02,647 it is not doing injustice to the passages. 49 00:03:02,647 --> 00:03:04,591 When it says this - listen to it again - 50 00:03:04,591 --> 00:03:06,992 "Whoever has been born of God 51 00:03:06,992 --> 00:03:11,388 does not sin." 52 00:03:11,388 --> 00:03:13,513 It's not doing injustice, 53 00:03:13,513 --> 00:03:15,334 and yet we have to admit, 54 00:03:15,334 --> 00:03:17,165 we do have to admit 55 00:03:17,165 --> 00:03:18,885 that if we take it, 56 00:03:18,885 --> 00:03:22,684 the English words as spoken by the KJV 57 00:03:22,684 --> 00:03:27,350 or the New KJV, we have to admit, 58 00:03:27,350 --> 00:03:31,417 it sounds like Christian perfectionism. 59 00:03:31,417 --> 00:03:34,598 It sounds like that. 60 00:03:34,598 --> 00:03:37,184 Right? 61 00:03:37,184 --> 00:03:38,682 And you will readily notice 62 00:03:38,682 --> 00:03:40,671 if you read from the ESV 63 00:03:40,671 --> 00:03:43,340 that these verses do not sound 64 00:03:43,340 --> 00:03:47,954 so absolute as they do in the KJV. 65 00:03:47,954 --> 00:03:49,643 Think about it again. 66 00:03:49,643 --> 00:03:50,995 1 John 3:6, 67 00:03:50,995 --> 00:03:53,538 "No one who abides in Him 68 00:03:53,538 --> 00:03:55,280 keeps on sinning. 69 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,388 No one who keeps on sinning 70 00:03:57,388 --> 00:03:59,978 has either seen Him or known Him." 71 00:03:59,978 --> 00:04:02,838 1 John 3:8, "Whoever makes a practice..." 72 00:04:02,838 --> 00:04:05,035 You see, the ESV is throwing in 73 00:04:05,035 --> 00:04:08,745 "keeps on" and "makes a practice..." 74 00:04:08,745 --> 00:04:11,285 1 John 3:9, "No one born of God 75 00:04:11,285 --> 00:04:14,388 makes a practice of sinning. 76 00:04:14,388 --> 00:04:15,817 For God's seed abides in him. 77 00:04:15,817 --> 00:04:18,150 He cannot keep on sinning 78 00:04:18,150 --> 00:04:19,671 because he's been born of God." 79 00:04:19,671 --> 00:04:22,700 Now look, most of the old commentators 80 00:04:22,700 --> 00:04:26,458 who used the King James Version 81 00:04:26,458 --> 00:04:29,326 to lead us away from any idea 82 00:04:29,326 --> 00:04:31,561 of Christian perfectionism, 83 00:04:31,561 --> 00:04:35,400 to avoid any notion 84 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,730 that John was absolutely teaching us 85 00:04:38,730 --> 00:04:41,055 that when you get saved, you no longer sin. 86 00:04:41,055 --> 00:04:43,718 To avoid that, they always made it a point 87 00:04:43,718 --> 00:04:47,181 to emphasize that the verbs in these verses 88 00:04:47,181 --> 00:04:49,233 are in the present tense. 89 00:04:49,233 --> 00:04:50,523 And here's the thing, 90 00:04:50,523 --> 00:04:53,085 in Greek when you have a present tense verb, 91 00:04:53,085 --> 00:04:58,402 it implies a continuous ongoing action. 92 00:04:58,402 --> 00:05:02,197 The ESV translators have simply sought 93 00:05:02,197 --> 00:05:04,993 to make these verses clearer 94 00:05:04,993 --> 00:05:06,725 by bringing that out, 95 00:05:06,725 --> 00:05:09,938 which that as well is being faithful 96 00:05:09,938 --> 00:05:17,080 to what tense verbs we find here. 97 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,268 And the ESV translators 98 00:05:20,268 --> 00:05:22,248 have just sought to bring that clarity 99 00:05:22,248 --> 00:05:27,218 that John is not saying Christians never sin. 100 00:05:27,218 --> 00:05:29,897 The idea is they don't continue 101 00:05:29,897 --> 00:05:32,544 in a habitual practice of sin. 102 00:05:32,544 --> 00:05:34,651 And that's very helpful for avoiding 103 00:05:34,651 --> 00:05:36,857 any suggestion of perfectionism. 104 00:05:36,857 --> 00:05:38,906 I mean, brethren, I don't know about you, 105 00:05:38,906 --> 00:05:42,917 but reading "whoever has been born of God does not sin," 106 00:05:42,917 --> 00:05:45,377 where does that put you all? 107 00:05:45,377 --> 00:05:50,900 Taken in the literal sense, face value, 108 00:05:50,900 --> 00:05:52,521 those words in English, 109 00:05:52,521 --> 00:05:54,232 what does that do for all of you? 110 00:05:54,232 --> 00:05:55,958 Does that excite you a whole lot? 111 00:05:55,958 --> 00:05:57,950 "Oh, yeah, that gives me assurance!" 112 00:05:57,950 --> 00:06:02,199 "Boy, I'm in there!" 113 00:06:02,199 --> 00:06:04,451 I don't think it does. 114 00:06:04,451 --> 00:06:05,789 It's pretty unsettling 115 00:06:05,789 --> 00:06:07,158 if we're going to be honest. 116 00:06:07,158 --> 00:06:09,094 Certainly, it's not only unsettling, 117 00:06:09,094 --> 00:06:12,226 it's absolutely untrue if taken 118 00:06:12,226 --> 00:06:14,899 in the strict literal sense of these English words. 119 00:06:14,899 --> 00:06:17,280 Of course, those who are born again 120 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:19,444 or are born of God can sin. 121 00:06:19,444 --> 00:06:21,926 John himself says so. 122 00:06:21,926 --> 00:06:23,837 I mean, if you just remember back 123 00:06:23,837 --> 00:06:26,938 in 1 John 2:1, we remember, he says, 124 00:06:26,938 --> 00:06:28,988 "My little children, I'm writing these things to you." 125 00:06:28,988 --> 00:06:30,803 They're little children. They're Christians. 126 00:06:30,803 --> 00:06:33,154 "I'm writing these things to you that you may not sin, 127 00:06:33,154 --> 00:06:34,372 but if anyone does sin..." 128 00:06:34,372 --> 00:06:36,128 He's certainly allowing the fact 129 00:06:36,128 --> 00:06:38,278 that Christians can sin. 130 00:06:38,278 --> 00:06:41,743 Stressing the present, continuous action 131 00:06:41,743 --> 00:06:43,721 of these verbs like the ESV does 132 00:06:43,721 --> 00:06:44,814 is very helpful. 133 00:06:44,814 --> 00:06:46,842 "No one born of God 134 00:06:46,842 --> 00:06:49,977 makes a practice of sin." 135 00:06:49,977 --> 00:06:57,365 Now, brothers and sisters, 136 00:06:57,365 --> 00:07:01,398 although the way the ESV expresses this 137 00:07:01,398 --> 00:07:06,126 might help us to see that John is not saying 138 00:07:06,126 --> 00:07:08,245 true Christians are perfect and don't sin. 139 00:07:08,245 --> 00:07:10,470 Even though it's helpful to see that, 140 00:07:10,470 --> 00:07:13,361 I think we need to be sure that we do see 141 00:07:13,361 --> 00:07:15,943 what John is saying. 142 00:07:15,943 --> 00:07:18,196 I mean, if there's any portion of Scripture 143 00:07:18,196 --> 00:07:19,736 that ought to seriously elevate 144 00:07:19,736 --> 00:07:24,009 our ideas about what God's salvation looks like, 145 00:07:24,009 --> 00:07:27,199 it's these. 146 00:07:27,199 --> 00:07:30,919 Being born of God puts us on another plane. 147 00:07:30,919 --> 00:07:32,442 I hope you see that. 148 00:07:32,442 --> 00:07:34,488 We're elevated way above 149 00:07:34,488 --> 00:07:36,846 and beyond the rest of mankind. 150 00:07:36,846 --> 00:07:38,388 Look, some people come along 151 00:07:38,388 --> 00:07:40,629 and they just dismiss their sin 152 00:07:40,629 --> 00:07:42,557 assuming that what really matters 153 00:07:42,557 --> 00:07:45,037 is that I'm a Christian. 154 00:07:45,037 --> 00:07:47,803 What really matters is that I'm saved, 155 00:07:47,803 --> 00:07:50,235 but you know, how sin works out and all that 156 00:07:50,235 --> 00:07:52,491 it really doesn't matter because if I'm saved, 157 00:07:52,491 --> 00:07:55,171 then it really doesn't matter 158 00:07:55,171 --> 00:07:58,173 whether there's sin there or not. 159 00:07:58,173 --> 00:08:01,736 But John tells us: beware. 160 00:08:01,736 --> 00:08:03,205 That's what he's saying here. 161 00:08:03,205 --> 00:08:07,871 Don't let anybody deceive you. Why? 162 00:08:07,871 --> 00:08:10,879 Because this is a point that a lot of people get deceived. 163 00:08:10,879 --> 00:08:15,078 Because your sin does matter. 164 00:08:15,078 --> 00:08:17,847 And your sin is every bit an evidence 165 00:08:17,847 --> 00:08:20,426 of exactly whether or not 166 00:08:20,426 --> 00:08:22,906 you do belong to the family of God 167 00:08:22,906 --> 00:08:25,274 or whether you don't belong to the family of God. 168 00:08:25,274 --> 00:08:27,926 John tells us to beware of heresy concerning sin 169 00:08:27,926 --> 00:08:29,536 just as much as you want to 170 00:08:29,536 --> 00:08:31,526 beware of heresies concerning 171 00:08:31,526 --> 00:08:33,805 who the Person of Christ is. 172 00:08:33,805 --> 00:08:37,426 We must submit our views honestly to Scripture. 173 00:08:37,426 --> 00:08:39,610 Brethren, if there's any verses in Scripture 174 00:08:39,610 --> 00:08:41,991 we need to come face to face with - 175 00:08:41,991 --> 00:08:43,798 be honest - 176 00:08:43,798 --> 00:08:46,003 I mean, these are it. 177 00:08:46,003 --> 00:08:49,635 This is very defining. 178 00:08:49,635 --> 00:08:51,780 We must face Scripture honestly 179 00:08:51,780 --> 00:08:54,060 and examine ourselves in light of it. 180 00:08:54,060 --> 00:08:55,953 So, I mean, let me ask you all. 181 00:08:55,953 --> 00:08:59,218 Have you sat down with these verses 182 00:08:59,218 --> 00:09:00,805 and really wrestled with them? 183 00:09:00,805 --> 00:09:03,841 Have you looked them straight in the face? 184 00:09:03,841 --> 00:09:07,296 Have you wrestled with what John says here? 185 00:09:07,296 --> 00:09:09,665 And if you have, 186 00:09:09,665 --> 00:09:12,937 what does it say to you? 187 00:09:12,937 --> 00:09:16,554 I mean, how do these verses bear on you? 188 00:09:16,554 --> 00:09:22,526 How does it leave you? 189 00:09:22,526 --> 00:09:25,556 You know why I ask that? 190 00:09:25,556 --> 00:09:27,795 You know, as I'm reading these verses, 191 00:09:27,795 --> 00:09:30,802 you know what is jumping out at me all the time? 192 00:09:30,802 --> 00:09:33,749 You know what it is I hear John in the background saying? 193 00:09:33,749 --> 00:09:37,088 See, I've read 1 John a lot of times 194 00:09:37,088 --> 00:09:41,322 and I know what comes after. 195 00:09:41,322 --> 00:09:43,328 And you know, one of the things 196 00:09:43,328 --> 00:09:48,020 that John says as he's finishing out this letter? 197 00:09:48,020 --> 00:09:50,449 It's in 1 John 5:13. 198 00:09:50,449 --> 00:09:52,356 It's not far away from where you are. 199 00:09:52,356 --> 00:09:58,145 Why don't you look at 1 John 5:13. 200 00:09:58,145 --> 00:10:01,797 Do you remember this? 201 00:10:01,797 --> 00:10:05,701 "I write these things..." What things? 202 00:10:05,701 --> 00:10:08,271 The things in this letter, 203 00:10:08,271 --> 00:10:15,161 like 1 John 3:4-10. 204 00:10:15,161 --> 00:10:18,080 "I write these things to you 205 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,478 who believe in the name of the Son of God..." 206 00:10:20,478 --> 00:10:21,582 For this reason: 207 00:10:21,582 --> 00:10:23,129 "...that you may know 208 00:10:23,129 --> 00:10:27,387 that you have eternal life." 209 00:10:27,387 --> 00:10:29,217 John says, "No one born of God 210 00:10:29,217 --> 00:10:32,825 makes a practice of sinning." 211 00:10:32,825 --> 00:10:35,381 John looks at you and says, 212 00:10:35,381 --> 00:10:38,139 "No one born of God..." 213 00:10:38,139 --> 00:10:39,588 No one who's a true Christian 214 00:10:39,588 --> 00:10:41,225 makes a practice of sinning. 215 00:10:41,225 --> 00:10:45,388 Don't you feel all sorts of wonderful assurance from that? 216 00:10:45,388 --> 00:10:47,907 That's what he's saying here. 217 00:10:47,907 --> 00:10:51,770 And I've thought pastorally, 218 00:10:51,770 --> 00:10:55,334 verses like these mess people up. 219 00:10:55,334 --> 00:10:56,977 And yet, John is looking at this 220 00:10:56,977 --> 00:10:59,405 with the wisdom of God and he's saying, 221 00:10:59,405 --> 00:11:03,415 oh no, no, this is meant to give you assurance, 222 00:11:03,415 --> 00:11:10,592 not to mess people up. 223 00:11:10,592 --> 00:11:12,950 This is meant to give you assurance. 224 00:11:12,950 --> 00:11:16,205 But is this what happens? 225 00:11:16,205 --> 00:11:18,697 I mean, we need to take Scripture 226 00:11:18,697 --> 00:11:20,522 and bring it down to reality 227 00:11:20,522 --> 00:11:21,735 where we live, 228 00:11:21,735 --> 00:11:23,658 how we think. 229 00:11:23,658 --> 00:11:26,449 Is this what it does for us? 230 00:11:26,449 --> 00:11:29,573 Is that what these verses do? 231 00:11:29,573 --> 00:11:32,820 I mean, look, if I say to you right now, 232 00:11:32,820 --> 00:11:36,177 okay, let's just stop. 233 00:11:36,177 --> 00:11:39,851 Let's just stop. Put this service on hold. 234 00:11:39,851 --> 00:11:42,185 I'm going to step down from the pulpit right now 235 00:11:42,185 --> 00:11:45,249 and I'm going to sit down in that chair, 236 00:11:45,249 --> 00:11:47,512 and I want us all to think 237 00:11:47,512 --> 00:11:50,617 and look at this straight in the face. 238 00:11:50,617 --> 00:11:56,914 "He who abides in Christ..." 239 00:11:56,914 --> 00:11:59,172 They practice righteousness. 240 00:11:59,172 --> 00:12:03,919 "No one who abides in Christ 241 00:12:03,919 --> 00:12:07,046 keeps on sinning." 242 00:12:07,046 --> 00:12:09,519 "Whoever makes a practice of sinning 243 00:12:09,519 --> 00:12:10,559 is of the devil." 244 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:14,013 "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning." 245 00:12:14,013 --> 00:12:16,668 No one. 246 00:12:16,668 --> 00:12:18,930 And I sit down there and I say, 247 00:12:18,930 --> 00:12:20,997 brethren, just meditate on this 248 00:12:20,997 --> 00:12:24,434 for the next five minutes. 249 00:12:24,434 --> 00:12:27,130 Reflect. 250 00:12:27,130 --> 00:12:31,763 Where are you at? 251 00:12:31,763 --> 00:12:34,618 Brethren, if I did that, 252 00:12:34,618 --> 00:12:38,004 what would happen in this room? 253 00:12:38,004 --> 00:12:39,757 I mean, I come back up to the pulpit 254 00:12:39,757 --> 00:12:42,281 and I say, 255 00:12:42,281 --> 00:12:46,633 okay, John gave that so that the true Christians here 256 00:12:46,633 --> 00:12:50,513 would be flooded with assurance. 257 00:12:50,513 --> 00:12:52,122 Hopefully so that those 258 00:12:52,122 --> 00:12:53,864 who had false professions 259 00:12:53,864 --> 00:12:56,377 would just be exposed and know it on the spot. 260 00:12:56,377 --> 00:12:58,071 "Oh, I'm not saved!" 261 00:12:58,071 --> 00:12:59,639 And all the saved would say, 262 00:12:59,639 --> 00:13:01,363 "Oh, I know I'm saved! 263 00:13:01,363 --> 00:13:03,501 And I'm more encouraged and confident 264 00:13:03,501 --> 00:13:07,816 and sure of that than I've ever been in my life." 265 00:13:07,816 --> 00:13:09,394 But I would ask you, 266 00:13:09,394 --> 00:13:11,813 what would happen during that five minutes 267 00:13:11,813 --> 00:13:16,017 as the truth of this entered into our minds? 268 00:13:16,017 --> 00:13:18,000 Is every true Christian going to be 269 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:19,233 full of assurance? 270 00:13:19,233 --> 00:13:21,430 And is it going to destroy the false assurance 271 00:13:21,430 --> 00:13:22,845 in all the rest? 272 00:13:22,845 --> 00:13:24,577 Is it going to leave the Christians 273 00:13:24,577 --> 00:13:26,212 more confident than ever 274 00:13:26,212 --> 00:13:28,205 and undeceive the deceived? 275 00:13:28,205 --> 00:13:29,847 Is that what's going to happen? 276 00:13:29,847 --> 00:13:33,492 And I would say perhaps not. 277 00:13:33,492 --> 00:13:35,397 Why? 278 00:13:35,397 --> 00:13:37,882 Because I've used these verses. 279 00:13:37,882 --> 00:13:40,659 And here's the kind of response 280 00:13:40,659 --> 00:13:43,283 that I see come from people. 281 00:13:43,283 --> 00:13:50,453 For one, brethren, even the best of us, 282 00:13:50,453 --> 00:13:54,507 even the holiest among us 283 00:13:54,507 --> 00:13:58,787 have enough sin in our lives 284 00:13:58,787 --> 00:14:05,542 that answering this is difficult. 285 00:14:05,542 --> 00:14:08,793 That's one thing. 286 00:14:08,793 --> 00:14:10,345 You know what else I find? 287 00:14:10,345 --> 00:14:12,559 I find some people that look at this 288 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:13,733 and they just say 289 00:14:13,733 --> 00:14:16,771 the standard's too high. 290 00:14:16,771 --> 00:14:19,412 I mean, it's just too far out there. 291 00:14:19,412 --> 00:14:21,942 And so you know what they do? They just dismiss it. 292 00:14:21,942 --> 00:14:24,773 Well, it can't really be what it sounds like it's saying. 293 00:14:24,773 --> 00:14:28,731 I just dismiss it. 294 00:14:28,731 --> 00:14:31,962 Or just ignore it. 295 00:14:31,962 --> 00:14:35,767 "I like Romans 7 better. 296 00:14:35,767 --> 00:14:38,316 I'm going to ignore that." 297 00:14:38,316 --> 00:14:42,019 "Wretched man that I am." Yeah, I like that better. 298 00:14:42,019 --> 00:14:43,748 That's what some people do. 299 00:14:43,748 --> 00:14:47,994 Or, I find that some people 300 00:14:47,994 --> 00:14:51,502 with overly sensitive consciences - 301 00:14:51,502 --> 00:14:54,594 true children of God - 302 00:14:54,594 --> 00:14:56,292 they just freeze. 303 00:14:56,292 --> 00:14:59,797 This just paralyzes them. 304 00:14:59,797 --> 00:15:03,312 Or you know what I find some people do? 305 00:15:03,312 --> 00:15:08,214 Some people that are these "carnal" Christians? 306 00:15:08,214 --> 00:15:11,950 The people in our midst that are always 307 00:15:11,950 --> 00:15:14,649 trying to justify their Christian liberties. 308 00:15:14,649 --> 00:15:18,232 You know what people like that do? 309 00:15:18,232 --> 00:15:21,783 They want to know, 310 00:15:21,783 --> 00:15:25,052 well, when do you cross over practicing sin? 311 00:15:25,052 --> 00:15:27,112 And so they take all their sins 312 00:15:27,112 --> 00:15:29,518 and all their carnality and worldliness, 313 00:15:29,518 --> 00:15:31,788 and they want to put in the scales 314 00:15:31,788 --> 00:15:35,354 and somehow say, yeah, but the indicator 315 00:15:35,354 --> 00:15:39,004 doesn't pass the mark. 316 00:15:39,004 --> 00:15:40,614 You know, define for me, 317 00:15:40,614 --> 00:15:42,547 what does it mean to practice sin? 318 00:15:42,547 --> 00:15:45,611 Because they want to define it in a way 319 00:15:45,611 --> 00:15:49,584 that they're safe. 320 00:15:49,584 --> 00:15:51,580 See, that's the kind of stuff that happens 321 00:15:51,580 --> 00:15:53,112 when you bring these verses out. 322 00:15:53,112 --> 00:15:55,122 Rather than finding assurance. 323 00:15:55,122 --> 00:15:57,002 You know what it seems to me? 324 00:15:57,002 --> 00:16:00,150 It almost seems to me like what John has done 325 00:16:00,150 --> 00:16:03,257 is he's given the perfect recipe 326 00:16:03,257 --> 00:16:05,716 for producing doubt and uncertainty 327 00:16:05,716 --> 00:16:08,292 in those that are frail, that are weak, 328 00:16:08,292 --> 00:16:16,833 that are faint-hearted. 329 00:16:16,833 --> 00:16:19,461 Look, I'm just saying, pastorally, 330 00:16:19,461 --> 00:16:23,425 that's what it seems like to me. 331 00:16:23,425 --> 00:16:26,193 Do any of you agree? 332 00:16:26,193 --> 00:16:28,520 I mean, you might be one that's sitting there: 333 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,272 "No, I've got great encouragement from these verses." 334 00:16:31,272 --> 00:16:33,105 That's great because obviously 335 00:16:33,105 --> 00:16:36,893 that's what John means for it to do. 336 00:16:36,893 --> 00:16:39,583 But why it is that it seems like so often 337 00:16:39,583 --> 00:16:43,909 these verses - 338 00:16:43,909 --> 00:16:47,126 people have lots of trouble with them? 339 00:16:47,126 --> 00:16:51,975 It seems we end up with much confusion. 340 00:16:51,975 --> 00:16:54,595 Many Christians perplexed 341 00:16:54,595 --> 00:16:56,654 and filled with anxiety and doubt, 342 00:16:56,654 --> 00:17:00,658 rather than assurance. 343 00:17:00,658 --> 00:17:03,317 But brethren, you know what? 344 00:17:03,317 --> 00:17:05,430 I mean, this how I'm thinking about this 345 00:17:05,430 --> 00:17:07,791 and I'm thinking, 346 00:17:07,791 --> 00:17:10,012 I need light here. 347 00:17:10,012 --> 00:17:14,575 How does this help us? 348 00:17:14,575 --> 00:17:16,152 Brethren, 349 00:17:16,152 --> 00:17:18,675 brothers and sisters, 350 00:17:18,675 --> 00:17:21,283 I really believe this. 351 00:17:21,283 --> 00:17:23,550 I really believe that if the Holy Spirit 352 00:17:23,550 --> 00:17:27,262 is going to encourage us and give us assurance 353 00:17:27,262 --> 00:17:28,784 the way that these verses 354 00:17:28,784 --> 00:17:31,629 are intended to produce in God's people, 355 00:17:31,629 --> 00:17:34,426 if the Spirit of God is going to bring this real, 356 00:17:34,426 --> 00:17:37,607 solid, abiding assurance to God's people 357 00:17:37,607 --> 00:17:40,038 by way of these verses, 358 00:17:40,038 --> 00:17:42,612 then we need to quit approaching them 359 00:17:42,612 --> 00:17:48,266 with a humanistic mindset. 360 00:17:48,266 --> 00:17:51,500 What I mean is that we need to step back 361 00:17:51,500 --> 00:17:52,860 from these verses 362 00:17:52,860 --> 00:17:54,806 and look beyond ourselves. 363 00:17:54,806 --> 00:17:56,889 One of the problems with verses like this 364 00:17:56,889 --> 00:18:00,775 as it isolates us in the bathroom 365 00:18:00,775 --> 00:18:03,073 looking in the mirror - 366 00:18:03,073 --> 00:18:05,651 I say bathroom because that's where mirrors are - 367 00:18:05,651 --> 00:18:10,682 we're looking, 368 00:18:10,682 --> 00:18:13,310 we just gaze at ourselves. 369 00:18:13,310 --> 00:18:16,089 And we're just consumed by ourself, 370 00:18:16,089 --> 00:18:17,812 analyzing ourself. 371 00:18:17,812 --> 00:18:20,632 And I don't think that that's what this is meant to do. 372 00:18:20,632 --> 00:18:24,138 John isn't telling us in these verses 373 00:18:24,138 --> 00:18:28,406 to carefully put all the remaining sin 374 00:18:28,406 --> 00:18:30,391 that we can possibly dig up 375 00:18:30,391 --> 00:18:32,232 and find in our lives 376 00:18:32,232 --> 00:18:34,447 and take it all and put it in the scales 377 00:18:34,447 --> 00:18:35,686 and weigh them 378 00:18:35,686 --> 00:18:37,828 and see if the indicator 379 00:18:37,828 --> 00:18:40,890 falls on the side of safety. 380 00:18:40,890 --> 00:18:45,257 I don't believe that's what's happening here at all. 381 00:18:45,257 --> 00:18:53,390 Brethren, there's a place for self-examination, 382 00:18:53,390 --> 00:18:55,048 but the thing is, it's not about 383 00:18:55,048 --> 00:18:58,461 just noticing where the dial is and that's all and stop right there. 384 00:18:58,461 --> 00:19:00,088 He's telling us rather 385 00:19:00,088 --> 00:19:03,026 to open our eyeballs, 386 00:19:03,026 --> 00:19:07,036 step back and get the big picture. 387 00:19:07,036 --> 00:19:10,114 There is a monumental battle. 388 00:19:10,114 --> 00:19:11,895 And what he's asking is 389 00:19:11,895 --> 00:19:15,373 has this battle had anything to do with your life? 390 00:19:15,373 --> 00:19:17,718 And you say, what do you mean, this battle? 391 00:19:17,718 --> 00:19:21,186 Listen, brethren, I'll tell you what, when you read through these verses, 392 00:19:21,186 --> 00:19:22,808 so often we get caught up with: 393 00:19:22,808 --> 00:19:25,527 "Nobody born of God continues in sin." 394 00:19:25,527 --> 00:19:27,313 They don't practice sin 395 00:19:27,313 --> 00:19:29,007 and that's all we see. 396 00:19:29,007 --> 00:19:30,967 And we run around looking at the mirror 397 00:19:30,967 --> 00:19:32,653 and wondering where the scale goes, 398 00:19:32,653 --> 00:19:35,447 and we can totally miss verses 5 and 8 399 00:19:35,447 --> 00:19:38,792 which are the meat of this. 400 00:19:38,792 --> 00:19:41,195 Brethren, v. 5, 401 00:19:41,195 --> 00:19:45,338 "You know that Jesus Christ appeared 402 00:19:45,338 --> 00:19:47,597 in order to take away sins, 403 00:19:47,597 --> 00:19:49,281 and in Him there is no sin." 404 00:19:49,281 --> 00:19:52,329 To take away sins in this context 405 00:19:52,329 --> 00:19:54,310 is not speaking about Christ 406 00:19:54,310 --> 00:19:56,290 paying the penalty for our sins 407 00:19:56,290 --> 00:19:58,964 and taking the guilt away. 408 00:19:58,964 --> 00:20:02,643 That is not what's in context here. 409 00:20:02,643 --> 00:20:06,556 Look, v. 5 is surrounded 410 00:20:06,556 --> 00:20:09,386 by v. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8... 411 00:20:09,386 --> 00:20:11,926 none of them are speaking about this at all. 412 00:20:11,926 --> 00:20:14,843 John is speaking of the practice 413 00:20:14,843 --> 00:20:16,688 and purity of our lives. 414 00:20:16,688 --> 00:20:19,142 When this says that Jesus Christ appeared, 415 00:20:19,142 --> 00:20:20,739 He came into this world 416 00:20:20,739 --> 00:20:22,463 to take away sins. 417 00:20:22,463 --> 00:20:24,161 Brethren, he's not talking about 418 00:20:24,161 --> 00:20:25,933 taking the guilt of it away. 419 00:20:25,933 --> 00:20:27,257 He's talking about taking 420 00:20:27,257 --> 00:20:29,800 the actual presence of it away. 421 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,471 That's clear from these verses. 422 00:20:33,471 --> 00:20:35,722 All you've got to do is read the context. 423 00:20:35,722 --> 00:20:36,972 Do you see the context? 424 00:20:36,972 --> 00:20:38,795 John is not talking about Jesus Christ 425 00:20:38,795 --> 00:20:40,027 appearing in this world 426 00:20:40,027 --> 00:20:42,803 simply to pardon sin - 427 00:20:42,803 --> 00:20:44,259 yes, He does that. 428 00:20:44,259 --> 00:20:48,191 Absolutely, justification is absolutely essential 429 00:20:48,191 --> 00:20:49,325 in our salvation. 430 00:20:49,325 --> 00:20:52,973 All I'm telling you is that is not what he's talking about here. 431 00:20:52,973 --> 00:20:54,284 You can see it. 432 00:20:54,284 --> 00:20:57,427 In v. 3, it's about practical purity 433 00:20:57,427 --> 00:21:00,532 that we purify ourselves 434 00:21:00,532 --> 00:21:02,108 by our own efforts, 435 00:21:02,108 --> 00:21:04,004 striving to be like Him. 436 00:21:04,004 --> 00:21:05,837 It's the practice of sinning. 437 00:21:05,837 --> 00:21:09,004 It's the practice of lawlessness. 438 00:21:09,004 --> 00:21:12,262 "You know that He appeared to take away sins." 439 00:21:12,262 --> 00:21:13,840 What does that result in? 440 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:18,613 "No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning." 441 00:21:18,613 --> 00:21:21,565 Why? Because He showed up to take them away. 442 00:21:21,565 --> 00:21:23,391 And if it's not taken away, 443 00:21:23,391 --> 00:21:25,578 you show that you're not abiding in Him. 444 00:21:25,578 --> 00:21:27,464 That's the whole idea here. 445 00:21:27,464 --> 00:21:30,988 We've got to see this for what it is. 446 00:21:30,988 --> 00:21:33,426 Specifically talking about Christ taking sins 447 00:21:33,426 --> 00:21:35,346 out of our lives in a real, 448 00:21:35,346 --> 00:21:36,823 in a manifest way, 449 00:21:36,823 --> 00:21:38,639 in an experiential way. 450 00:21:38,639 --> 00:21:40,852 He's talking about breaking us out 451 00:21:40,852 --> 00:21:43,754 of this bondage and shackles and bars 452 00:21:43,754 --> 00:21:45,509 of sin and the devil 453 00:21:45,509 --> 00:21:47,093 that have us caged up. 454 00:21:47,093 --> 00:21:55,460 Look at the second half of v. 8. 455 00:21:55,460 --> 00:22:00,560 "The reason the Son of God appeared 456 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:04,238 was to destroy the works of the devil." 457 00:22:04,238 --> 00:22:04,980 Do you see it? 458 00:22:04,980 --> 00:22:06,712 The work of the devil is precisely 459 00:22:06,712 --> 00:22:08,031 what John describes 460 00:22:08,031 --> 00:22:10,534 in the first half of this same verse. 461 00:22:10,534 --> 00:22:13,904 Brethren, the reason the Son of God appeared 462 00:22:13,904 --> 00:22:16,048 was to destroy the works of the devil. 463 00:22:16,048 --> 00:22:17,487 That's at the end of v. 8. 464 00:22:17,487 --> 00:22:19,278 At the beginning of v. 8, 465 00:22:19,278 --> 00:22:21,157 "Whoever makes a practice of sinning 466 00:22:21,157 --> 00:22:22,206 is of the devil." 467 00:22:22,206 --> 00:22:23,632 Do you see what kind of works 468 00:22:23,632 --> 00:22:27,106 that Christ appeared to destroy? 469 00:22:27,106 --> 00:22:28,261 It's us sinning. 470 00:22:28,261 --> 00:22:29,986 It's us being like the devil. 471 00:22:29,986 --> 00:22:32,637 It's us sinning like the devil sins. 472 00:22:32,637 --> 00:22:34,445 The work of the devil is precisely 473 00:22:34,445 --> 00:22:37,236 what John describes as the thing 474 00:22:37,236 --> 00:22:39,934 that Christ came to destroy. 475 00:22:39,934 --> 00:22:41,512 It's the practice of sin. 476 00:22:41,512 --> 00:22:46,706 Jesus Christ came into the world 477 00:22:46,706 --> 00:22:49,369 to do battle. 478 00:22:49,369 --> 00:22:50,914 That's what we have to see. 479 00:22:50,914 --> 00:22:52,967 Whether or not you and I practice sin 480 00:22:52,967 --> 00:22:55,661 in our lives has everything to do 481 00:22:55,661 --> 00:22:57,108 with this battle. 482 00:22:57,108 --> 00:22:58,401 I've called my sermon: 483 00:22:58,401 --> 00:23:00,722 "Christ the Destroyer." 484 00:23:00,722 --> 00:23:03,491 He came to destroy the works of the devil. 485 00:23:03,491 --> 00:23:05,697 I mean, do you see what John's doing here? 486 00:23:05,697 --> 00:23:09,763 He sweeps us up into this great cosmic battle. 487 00:23:09,763 --> 00:23:11,397 We need to understand. 488 00:23:11,397 --> 00:23:16,459 Jesus Christ - you can see Him. 489 00:23:16,459 --> 00:23:22,340 Oftentimes, we imagine this baby 490 00:23:22,340 --> 00:23:25,339 lying there in the manger. 491 00:23:25,339 --> 00:23:32,876 Tawfiq was telling us about this virgin 492 00:23:32,876 --> 00:23:36,159 who would conceive 493 00:23:36,159 --> 00:23:41,395 without the instrumentality of any man. 494 00:23:41,395 --> 00:23:44,323 And there's that baby, a starlit night. 495 00:23:44,323 --> 00:23:46,379 You can imagine. 496 00:23:46,379 --> 00:23:51,208 All quiet. 497 00:23:51,208 --> 00:23:55,011 Brethren, it ought not to surprise us 498 00:23:55,011 --> 00:23:59,618 that Herod had every male child 499 00:23:59,618 --> 00:24:02,784 two years of age and under 500 00:24:02,784 --> 00:24:06,393 slaughtered in Bethlehem. 501 00:24:06,393 --> 00:24:08,808 It ought not to surprise you 502 00:24:08,808 --> 00:24:12,062 that Haman the Agagite 503 00:24:12,062 --> 00:24:16,573 tried to eradicate the entire population 504 00:24:16,573 --> 00:24:18,537 of the Jews. 505 00:24:18,537 --> 00:24:20,868 They were pawns. 506 00:24:20,868 --> 00:24:22,993 There is a darkness behind them 507 00:24:22,993 --> 00:24:26,628 that is far more sinister. 508 00:24:26,628 --> 00:24:29,164 They knew it had been prophesied. 509 00:24:29,164 --> 00:24:31,468 They knew that One who would crush 510 00:24:31,468 --> 00:24:34,392 the head of the serpent was coming. 511 00:24:34,392 --> 00:24:35,813 It had been prophesied. 512 00:24:35,813 --> 00:24:37,440 It had been foretold. 513 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:39,613 And the devil was seeking to keep 514 00:24:39,613 --> 00:24:43,656 this God-Man warrior - here He is. 515 00:24:43,656 --> 00:24:46,667 He may look like this innocent little babe 516 00:24:46,667 --> 00:24:47,653 in a manger. 517 00:24:47,653 --> 00:24:50,138 Innocent He is, but He is not harmless, 518 00:24:50,138 --> 00:24:52,435 I'll tell you that. 519 00:24:52,435 --> 00:24:56,374 He shook the ranks of hell. 520 00:24:56,374 --> 00:25:00,714 He came and Satan wanted Him destroyed. 521 00:25:00,714 --> 00:25:02,571 Satan wanted to do everything 522 00:25:02,571 --> 00:25:04,107 to destroy Him. 523 00:25:04,107 --> 00:25:06,975 This is the God-Man warrior. 524 00:25:06,975 --> 00:25:09,675 He has come upon the scene. 525 00:25:09,675 --> 00:25:21,273 Brethren, 526 00:25:21,273 --> 00:25:32,572 Jesus comes to that Gadarene maniac, 527 00:25:32,572 --> 00:25:35,707 possessed with demons. 528 00:25:35,707 --> 00:25:38,600 Those demons scream: 529 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:43,858 "Ahhhh, have You come to destroy us?" 530 00:25:43,858 --> 00:25:48,268 That's what they said. 531 00:25:48,268 --> 00:25:51,278 Luke 4:34 - 532 00:25:51,278 --> 00:25:54,452 "What have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? 533 00:25:54,452 --> 00:25:56,906 Have You come to destroy us?" 534 00:25:56,906 --> 00:25:58,820 Why would they ask that? 535 00:25:58,820 --> 00:26:01,604 Because He is the destroyer. 536 00:26:01,604 --> 00:26:06,043 And they know it full well. 537 00:26:06,043 --> 00:26:08,268 Of course He'd come to destroy them. 538 00:26:08,268 --> 00:26:09,727 You can be certain. 539 00:26:09,727 --> 00:26:11,874 Brethren, you can be certain, 540 00:26:11,874 --> 00:26:15,464 these demons, they're connected. 541 00:26:15,464 --> 00:26:17,666 There's principalities. There's powers. 542 00:26:17,666 --> 00:26:20,222 There's networks of evil. 543 00:26:20,222 --> 00:26:23,480 Do you think it got readily communicated 544 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,534 through their ranks 545 00:26:26,534 --> 00:26:29,805 when their chief, their prince, 546 00:26:29,805 --> 00:26:32,872 went out there into the wilderness? 547 00:26:32,872 --> 00:26:34,822 We don't see swords drawn. 548 00:26:34,822 --> 00:26:37,570 Sometimes it doesn't seem to us like combat. 549 00:26:37,570 --> 00:26:38,823 Mortal combat. 550 00:26:38,823 --> 00:26:42,477 But that's exactly what took place in that wilderness. 551 00:26:42,477 --> 00:26:44,814 Jesus Christ fasting for 40 days. 552 00:26:44,814 --> 00:26:48,159 And He withstood the onslaught. 553 00:26:48,159 --> 00:26:50,362 Satan went away defeated. 554 00:26:50,362 --> 00:26:53,386 You know, it rattled through their ranks. 555 00:26:53,386 --> 00:26:54,683 Our prince went down. 556 00:26:54,683 --> 00:26:55,886 He met this Warrior 557 00:26:55,886 --> 00:26:59,466 and he did not succeed. 558 00:26:59,466 --> 00:27:03,065 We sent our best against 559 00:27:03,065 --> 00:27:06,639 the best of the enemy. 560 00:27:06,639 --> 00:27:12,166 And He proved champion, folks. 561 00:27:12,166 --> 00:27:18,470 Brethren, Satan, he comes to Adam and Eve. 562 00:27:18,470 --> 00:27:21,749 They were putty in his hands. 563 00:27:21,749 --> 00:27:24,679 They just gave way right before him. 564 00:27:24,679 --> 00:27:28,058 It just took nothing. 565 00:27:28,058 --> 00:27:29,552 How easily they fell! 566 00:27:29,552 --> 00:27:31,303 Just soundly defeated. 567 00:27:31,303 --> 00:27:35,973 And now Satan has come up against the Champion. 568 00:27:35,973 --> 00:27:38,695 Brethren, we do not want to imagine 569 00:27:38,695 --> 00:27:41,371 Christ simply being on the defensive. 570 00:27:41,371 --> 00:27:43,669 He did not just come to ward off 571 00:27:43,669 --> 00:27:45,392 Satan's attacks. 572 00:27:45,392 --> 00:27:48,770 He came to take an offensive posture. 573 00:27:48,770 --> 00:27:50,194 To do what? 574 00:27:50,194 --> 00:27:52,006 To destroy the works of the devil. 575 00:27:52,006 --> 00:27:53,777 And the thing that you have to see 576 00:27:53,777 --> 00:27:57,348 is the work of the devil is in us. 577 00:27:57,348 --> 00:28:00,242 The work of the devil is our sin. 578 00:28:00,242 --> 00:28:03,407 The work of the devil is our practice of sin. 579 00:28:03,407 --> 00:28:06,382 Clearly, all the context around 1 John 3:8 - 580 00:28:06,382 --> 00:28:08,646 the works of the devil that John has in mind 581 00:28:08,646 --> 00:28:10,303 that Jesus Christ came to destroy, 582 00:28:10,303 --> 00:28:12,267 it's not so much that He came to destroy 583 00:28:12,267 --> 00:28:13,865 the devil himself, 584 00:28:13,865 --> 00:28:16,235 or the sin of the devil himself 585 00:28:16,235 --> 00:28:20,579 as much as He came to deliver 586 00:28:20,579 --> 00:28:22,899 men and women, boys and girls 587 00:28:22,899 --> 00:28:25,457 from this practice of sinning. 588 00:28:25,457 --> 00:28:27,030 That is the work of the devil. 589 00:28:27,030 --> 00:28:29,545 That is the work of the devil from the beginning. 590 00:28:29,545 --> 00:28:32,674 When he came into the garden, what was his work? 591 00:28:32,674 --> 00:28:35,097 Brethren, his work was to make 592 00:28:35,097 --> 00:28:39,018 Adam and Eve into God-haters. 593 00:28:39,018 --> 00:28:41,183 That was his work. 594 00:28:41,183 --> 00:28:47,270 Brethren, that's what he's doing in this world. 595 00:28:47,270 --> 00:28:48,908 We haven't gotten to it yet, 596 00:28:48,908 --> 00:28:50,624 but in 1 John 5:19, 597 00:28:50,624 --> 00:28:53,291 "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." 598 00:28:53,291 --> 00:28:54,567 This world out there 599 00:28:54,567 --> 00:28:57,674 is in the power of the evil one. 600 00:28:57,674 --> 00:29:00,643 They're in his control and what does he do? 601 00:29:00,643 --> 00:29:03,939 Well, this is a very important verse back up in v. 4. 602 00:29:03,939 --> 00:29:05,655 1 John 3:4. 603 00:29:05,655 --> 00:29:07,447 I want to show you more particularly 604 00:29:07,447 --> 00:29:09,231 what sort of things John has in mind 605 00:29:09,231 --> 00:29:11,305 when he speaks of the works of the devil. 606 00:29:11,305 --> 00:29:14,343 "Everyone who makes a practice of sinning 607 00:29:14,343 --> 00:29:22,650 also practices lawlessness." 608 00:29:22,650 --> 00:29:25,958 Sin is lawlessness. 609 00:29:25,958 --> 00:29:28,251 Brethren, everyone who keeps on doing sin, 610 00:29:28,251 --> 00:29:32,204 John points out to us, 611 00:29:32,204 --> 00:29:37,517 it's a continuous breaking of the law of God. 612 00:29:37,517 --> 00:29:42,591 Men lightly regard their sin. 613 00:29:42,591 --> 00:29:44,295 But God is there. 614 00:29:44,295 --> 00:29:46,205 The thing that you have to recognize 615 00:29:46,205 --> 00:29:48,769 is when we sin, 616 00:29:48,769 --> 00:29:50,826 we break God's law. 617 00:29:50,826 --> 00:29:52,736 We break what God has told us. 618 00:29:52,736 --> 00:29:53,874 It's rebellion. 619 00:29:53,874 --> 00:30:00,681 Brethren, what must our sin be like 620 00:30:00,681 --> 00:30:07,563 if man and woman lost paradise over one? 621 00:30:07,563 --> 00:30:09,188 What hellishness! 622 00:30:09,188 --> 00:30:11,254 What rebellion! What insult! 623 00:30:11,254 --> 00:30:13,711 What a crime! 624 00:30:13,711 --> 00:30:16,991 (incomplete thought) 625 00:30:16,991 --> 00:30:20,717 You know what the devil's work is? 626 00:30:20,717 --> 00:30:23,599 It's a work of deception. 627 00:30:23,599 --> 00:30:27,970 Do you know what he wants us to believe? 628 00:30:27,970 --> 00:30:32,825 I can sin and do so with basic impunity. 629 00:30:32,825 --> 00:30:37,011 I can sin. Nothing's going to happen. 630 00:30:37,011 --> 00:30:38,267 And you know what? 631 00:30:38,267 --> 00:30:41,045 Those of us in this place that are saved, 632 00:30:41,045 --> 00:30:43,366 you know that's exactly how you thought 633 00:30:43,366 --> 00:30:45,298 before you got saved. 634 00:30:45,298 --> 00:30:47,207 And those of you who are not yet saved, 635 00:30:47,207 --> 00:30:49,492 that's how you think now. 636 00:30:49,492 --> 00:30:51,333 It won't be so bad. 637 00:30:51,333 --> 00:30:55,056 It's all going to work out in the end. 638 00:30:55,056 --> 00:31:00,278 That's the picture I had of God when I was lost. 639 00:31:00,278 --> 00:31:01,816 I'm not that bad. 640 00:31:01,816 --> 00:31:03,797 In other words, no matter what I've done, 641 00:31:03,797 --> 00:31:05,922 God certainly wouldn't throw me into hell. 642 00:31:05,922 --> 00:31:06,882 Impunity. 643 00:31:06,882 --> 00:31:09,903 This is what the devil is having the world believe. 644 00:31:09,903 --> 00:31:11,485 The works of the devil. 645 00:31:11,485 --> 00:31:14,308 It's a work of deception. 646 00:31:14,308 --> 00:31:17,869 Do you recognize that? What's the deception? 647 00:31:17,869 --> 00:31:20,746 The deception is that there will not be 648 00:31:20,746 --> 00:31:22,777 a price to pay for your sin. 649 00:31:22,777 --> 00:31:24,697 And what else is the deception? 650 00:31:24,697 --> 00:31:28,843 The deception is: "God's against you. 651 00:31:28,843 --> 00:31:30,258 God doesn't like you. 652 00:31:30,258 --> 00:31:32,731 God hates you. 653 00:31:32,731 --> 00:31:36,391 God does not have your best interest in mind." 654 00:31:36,391 --> 00:31:39,317 That's his work to get you in a place 655 00:31:39,317 --> 00:31:40,851 where you believe that you can 656 00:31:40,851 --> 00:31:44,052 raise up your fist in rebellion against God. 657 00:31:44,052 --> 00:31:46,788 Do you recognize what the work of the devil is? 658 00:31:46,788 --> 00:31:49,728 It's to make warriors against God. 659 00:31:49,728 --> 00:31:52,079 It's to make fighters against Him. 660 00:31:52,079 --> 00:31:55,478 It's to create an army of those 661 00:31:55,478 --> 00:31:58,195 who defy God, 662 00:31:58,195 --> 00:31:59,604 live in defiance to Him. 663 00:31:59,604 --> 00:32:02,045 That is his work. 664 00:32:02,045 --> 00:32:07,132 Oh, brethren, in Revelation 12:9, 665 00:32:07,132 --> 00:32:08,784 "the great dragon was thrown down, 666 00:32:08,784 --> 00:32:10,435 that ancient serpent who is called 667 00:32:10,435 --> 00:32:11,533 the devil and Satan..." 668 00:32:11,533 --> 00:32:12,850 This is what he's called: 669 00:32:12,850 --> 00:32:15,255 "the deceiver of the whole world." 670 00:32:15,255 --> 00:32:18,105 You know what we find in 1 John 5? 671 00:32:18,105 --> 00:32:23,119 The whole world is in his power. 672 00:32:23,119 --> 00:32:24,732 And then we find this: 673 00:32:24,732 --> 00:32:27,082 he's the deceiver of the whole world. 674 00:32:27,082 --> 00:32:28,926 Now, you don't have to turn to this, 675 00:32:28,926 --> 00:32:30,612 but listen to this verse. 676 00:32:30,612 --> 00:32:33,680 I'm not wanting to get into any kind of eschatology with this, 677 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:35,781 but I want you to hear this. 678 00:32:35,781 --> 00:32:37,920 "When the thousand years are ended, 679 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:39,892 Satan will be released from his prison 680 00:32:39,892 --> 00:32:41,114 and will come out 681 00:32:41,114 --> 00:32:43,997 to deceive the nations 682 00:32:43,997 --> 00:32:46,031 that are at the four corners of the earth, 683 00:32:46,031 --> 00:32:47,398 Gog and Magog, 684 00:32:47,398 --> 00:32:50,445 to gather them for battle. 685 00:32:50,445 --> 00:32:52,686 Their number is like the sand of the sea 686 00:32:52,686 --> 00:32:55,303 and they marched up over the broad plain of the earth 687 00:32:55,303 --> 00:32:57,090 and surrounded the camp of the saints 688 00:32:57,090 --> 00:33:00,049 in the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven 689 00:33:00,049 --> 00:33:01,209 and consumed them 690 00:33:01,209 --> 00:33:03,383 and the devil who had deceived them 691 00:33:03,383 --> 00:33:05,465 was thrown into the lake of fire." 692 00:33:05,465 --> 00:33:07,063 What I want you to hear in this 693 00:33:07,063 --> 00:33:11,423 is he gathered them for battle. 694 00:33:11,423 --> 00:33:13,666 How does he gather them for battle? 695 00:33:13,666 --> 00:33:16,198 To fight who? 696 00:33:16,198 --> 00:33:18,006 To fight God. 697 00:33:18,006 --> 00:33:19,955 How does he do it? 698 00:33:19,955 --> 00:33:23,984 Through deception. 699 00:33:23,984 --> 00:33:27,454 This is his work. 700 00:33:27,454 --> 00:33:30,841 Do you recognize 701 00:33:30,841 --> 00:33:33,352 when you find the media 702 00:33:33,352 --> 00:33:36,841 opposed to Christianity; 703 00:33:36,841 --> 00:33:40,201 when you find the public school systems 704 00:33:40,201 --> 00:33:42,886 opposed to Christianity; 705 00:33:42,886 --> 00:33:45,380 when you find Hollywood opposed to Christianity; 706 00:33:45,380 --> 00:33:48,219 when you find that Islam is opposed to Christianity; 707 00:33:48,219 --> 00:33:51,035 when you find that atheists are opposed to Christianity; 708 00:33:51,035 --> 00:33:53,003 do you recognize what is happening? 709 00:33:53,003 --> 00:33:57,711 Satan doesn't care what lie it is that you believe, 710 00:33:57,711 --> 00:34:00,624 as long as you rise up 711 00:34:00,624 --> 00:34:02,507 in defiance against God. 712 00:34:02,507 --> 00:34:05,149 And I tell you, God will come against His enemies 713 00:34:05,149 --> 00:34:09,209 and God will destroy His enemies. 714 00:34:09,209 --> 00:34:14,390 Satan's power is not his own wrath. 715 00:34:14,390 --> 00:34:17,943 Satan's power is not any hell he created. 716 00:34:17,943 --> 00:34:21,311 Satan's power is not in his ability 717 00:34:21,311 --> 00:34:23,762 to cast you away. 718 00:34:23,762 --> 00:34:26,851 His power is in deceiving you 719 00:34:26,851 --> 00:34:29,823 so that you fight against God. 720 00:34:29,823 --> 00:34:32,748 When these people come together 721 00:34:32,748 --> 00:34:34,996 to do battle against God, you don't want to 722 00:34:34,996 --> 00:34:38,911 think about them marching over some literal plain 723 00:34:38,911 --> 00:34:41,585 over in the Middle East somewhere 724 00:34:41,585 --> 00:34:42,589 in Canaan. 725 00:34:42,589 --> 00:34:45,676 Brethren, this happens in our own streets, 726 00:34:45,676 --> 00:34:47,199 in our own hallways, 727 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:49,568 in our own city. 728 00:34:49,568 --> 00:34:52,819 Satan gathers us to battle 729 00:34:52,819 --> 00:34:56,379 right here, right now. 730 00:34:56,379 --> 00:34:57,469 How? 731 00:34:57,469 --> 00:35:00,701 In the same way he did with Adam and Eve. 732 00:35:00,701 --> 00:35:04,765 In the same way. 733 00:35:04,765 --> 00:35:10,636 Law-breaking God-haters. 734 00:35:10,636 --> 00:35:12,875 And you know what happened. 735 00:35:12,875 --> 00:35:14,618 They didn't trust God. 736 00:35:14,618 --> 00:35:16,749 You see, what he does is he comes along 737 00:35:16,749 --> 00:35:19,603 and he says: God isn't for you. 738 00:35:19,603 --> 00:35:21,185 He has an ulterior motive here. 739 00:35:21,185 --> 00:35:22,780 He knows that if you eat of this, 740 00:35:22,780 --> 00:35:24,341 your eyes are going to be opened 741 00:35:24,341 --> 00:35:25,913 and you're going to be like him. 742 00:35:25,913 --> 00:35:27,404 See who He is? 743 00:35:27,404 --> 00:35:29,610 He doesn't have your best interests in mind. 744 00:35:29,610 --> 00:35:32,354 He's trying to hold some blessing back from you. 745 00:35:32,354 --> 00:35:34,610 You know what God's laws are meant to do? 746 00:35:34,610 --> 00:35:39,371 They're meant to be safety. 747 00:35:39,371 --> 00:35:41,002 They're for our good. 748 00:35:41,002 --> 00:35:43,185 They're meant to keep us in this protected 749 00:35:43,185 --> 00:35:45,907 realm of righteousness. 750 00:35:45,907 --> 00:35:49,943 But Satan comes along and he says: 751 00:35:49,943 --> 00:35:53,100 "You can break those. 752 00:35:53,100 --> 00:35:54,346 It won't be bad. 753 00:35:54,346 --> 00:35:57,888 And plus, who is this God to give you any rules? 754 00:35:57,888 --> 00:36:01,069 Look at Him. He doesn't have your best interests in mind." 755 00:36:01,069 --> 00:36:03,196 And that's what he's trying to do today. 756 00:36:03,196 --> 00:36:06,145 And brethren, don't you see what happens? 757 00:36:06,145 --> 00:36:08,882 You see all this defiance against Christ. 758 00:36:08,882 --> 00:36:12,802 That is Satan bringing these hordes together 759 00:36:12,802 --> 00:36:14,567 to do battle against God. 760 00:36:14,567 --> 00:36:16,284 And like I said, it doesn't matter 761 00:36:16,284 --> 00:36:19,039 what lie you believe. 762 00:36:19,039 --> 00:36:22,514 Brethren, do you see what is happening? 763 00:36:22,514 --> 00:36:25,577 They came out to do battle. 764 00:36:25,577 --> 00:36:28,822 He gathered them for battle. 765 00:36:28,822 --> 00:36:32,012 How do these soldiers come together to do battle? 766 00:36:32,012 --> 00:36:34,602 Because they've been deceived. 767 00:36:34,602 --> 00:36:37,522 Do you recognize what men and women do? 768 00:36:37,522 --> 00:36:41,485 They raise up their fist against Christ. 769 00:36:41,485 --> 00:36:43,368 Christ who is their only hope. 770 00:36:43,368 --> 00:36:45,362 We saw these deceivers back in chapter 2. 771 00:36:45,362 --> 00:36:47,121 You know what they were trying to do? 772 00:36:47,121 --> 00:36:49,111 Redefine Christ. 773 00:36:49,111 --> 00:36:51,542 "Oh, He didn't really come in the flesh." 774 00:36:51,542 --> 00:36:53,046 They're attacking His Person. 775 00:36:53,046 --> 00:36:56,460 Why would anybody want to attack the biblical Christ? 776 00:36:56,460 --> 00:36:59,639 Don't we recognize that the biblical Christ is our only hope? 777 00:36:59,639 --> 00:37:01,564 Do you recognize what God has done? 778 00:37:01,564 --> 00:37:03,360 God has sent a Savior into the world, 779 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:06,406 and men - look at the animosity 780 00:37:06,406 --> 00:37:08,403 in this world towards Christ. 781 00:37:08,403 --> 00:37:10,938 Have you ever just stood back and asked why? 782 00:37:10,938 --> 00:37:12,201 Where does it come from? 783 00:37:12,201 --> 00:37:14,264 God sends them Somebody 784 00:37:14,264 --> 00:37:16,841 who will deliver them from their bondage 785 00:37:16,841 --> 00:37:18,464 and bring them into paradise 786 00:37:18,464 --> 00:37:20,083 and they hate Him! 787 00:37:20,083 --> 00:37:21,416 And they fight against Him! 788 00:37:21,416 --> 00:37:22,676 And they kill His people! 789 00:37:22,676 --> 00:37:24,967 They raise their fists in disgust. 790 00:37:24,967 --> 00:37:26,929 Have you ever just stopped to say: 791 00:37:26,929 --> 00:37:29,645 Why? Why? Why? 792 00:37:29,645 --> 00:37:31,593 Well, it's because of this, brethren. 793 00:37:31,593 --> 00:37:33,042 What deception! 794 00:37:33,042 --> 00:37:35,136 What absolute deception 795 00:37:35,136 --> 00:37:38,161 that we would try to redefine Christ; 796 00:37:38,161 --> 00:37:40,157 that we would rise up in defiance. 797 00:37:40,157 --> 00:37:45,299 This is Satan's work. 798 00:37:45,299 --> 00:37:51,501 These are the works of the devil. 799 00:37:51,501 --> 00:37:56,491 He appeared to take away sin. 800 00:37:56,491 --> 00:38:00,812 He appeared to destroy this. 801 00:38:00,812 --> 00:38:03,840 If there's anything that ought to convince you 802 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,189 that God is not against us, 803 00:38:07,189 --> 00:38:10,225 it's this very thing. 804 00:38:10,225 --> 00:38:13,231 He sent His Son to rescue us. 805 00:38:13,231 --> 00:38:15,220 I mean if there's anything that ought to 806 00:38:15,220 --> 00:38:19,634 speak to us about God's kindness towards us, 807 00:38:19,634 --> 00:38:21,455 it is this. 808 00:38:21,455 --> 00:38:25,523 Christ came into the world to do something. 809 00:38:25,523 --> 00:38:27,406 And He did it. 810 00:38:27,406 --> 00:38:29,495 Our salvation is entirely dependent upon 811 00:38:29,495 --> 00:38:31,842 the something that He came into this world to do. 812 00:38:31,842 --> 00:38:33,596 The reason the Son of God appeared 813 00:38:33,596 --> 00:38:39,109 was to destroy the works of the devil. 814 00:38:39,109 --> 00:38:41,221 Do you realize what madness 815 00:38:41,221 --> 00:38:46,432 took place in the garden that day? 816 00:38:46,432 --> 00:38:49,850 Do you recognize what crime was committed 817 00:38:49,850 --> 00:38:56,783 when men rise up in defiance of God? 818 00:38:56,783 --> 00:38:58,358 We don't. 819 00:38:58,358 --> 00:39:01,071 But let's look at the consequence. 820 00:39:01,071 --> 00:39:05,076 If you want to know the degree to the crime. 821 00:39:05,076 --> 00:39:06,312 Condemnation. 822 00:39:06,312 --> 00:39:08,096 Damnation. Death. 823 00:39:08,096 --> 00:39:09,756 Hell. 824 00:39:09,756 --> 00:39:12,844 For the whole human race. 825 00:39:12,844 --> 00:39:15,317 One sin. 826 00:39:15,317 --> 00:39:17,288 Just ate a fruit. 827 00:39:17,288 --> 00:39:21,636 Just did one, (incomplete thought.) 828 00:39:21,636 --> 00:39:23,631 Somebody's told not to eat something. 829 00:39:23,631 --> 00:39:25,312 You tell your child not to eat it 830 00:39:25,312 --> 00:39:27,497 and they get in the cookie jar. 831 00:39:27,497 --> 00:39:30,322 It's just little. 832 00:39:30,322 --> 00:39:33,208 Do you realize what Satan did? 833 00:39:33,208 --> 00:39:37,609 Do you realize the extent of his work? 834 00:39:37,609 --> 00:39:39,229 We hear about what happens 835 00:39:39,229 --> 00:39:42,001 in the Middle East. 836 00:39:42,001 --> 00:39:44,903 Just this open defiance 837 00:39:44,903 --> 00:39:48,033 against anything Christian. 838 00:39:48,033 --> 00:39:50,103 What's happening in our courts? 839 00:39:50,103 --> 00:39:52,276 In our political system? 840 00:39:52,276 --> 00:39:55,246 In our media? 841 00:39:55,246 --> 00:39:57,788 It should not surprise us. 842 00:39:57,788 --> 00:40:02,722 The devil is bringing these people together 843 00:40:02,722 --> 00:40:05,174 to do battle against Christ. 844 00:40:05,174 --> 00:40:10,936 And the reason they do it is they're deceived. 845 00:40:10,936 --> 00:40:12,941 Do you recognize that God is love? 846 00:40:12,941 --> 00:40:15,384 And one of the greatest expressions of that love 847 00:40:15,384 --> 00:40:18,576 is that His Son actually came 848 00:40:18,576 --> 00:40:20,522 into this world 849 00:40:20,522 --> 00:40:23,047 to take away the sin that keeps us 850 00:40:23,047 --> 00:40:26,293 in its bondage, to take it away. 851 00:40:26,293 --> 00:40:30,971 Jesus is jealous for our obedience 852 00:40:30,971 --> 00:40:33,688 to His Father. 853 00:40:33,688 --> 00:40:39,265 And He came into this world 854 00:40:39,265 --> 00:40:42,233 to undo that. 855 00:40:42,233 --> 00:40:44,362 To set us free. 856 00:40:44,362 --> 00:40:47,408 That's what He came to do. 857 00:40:47,408 --> 00:40:51,404 Brethren, we come along, 858 00:40:51,404 --> 00:40:52,887 we try to put forth an effort 859 00:40:52,887 --> 00:40:54,333 to set ourselves free. 860 00:40:54,333 --> 00:40:59,059 It's just like Paul in Romans 7. 861 00:40:59,059 --> 00:41:01,570 Oh, I'm not supposed to covet. 862 00:41:01,570 --> 00:41:03,659 Let me try to do that. 863 00:41:03,659 --> 00:41:08,083 You know what happens when you try to not covet? 864 00:41:08,083 --> 00:41:13,138 Satan comes in and beats you down. 865 00:41:13,138 --> 00:41:16,566 Because you can't escape him. 866 00:41:16,566 --> 00:41:18,300 You don't have the power. 867 00:41:18,300 --> 00:41:20,513 There's only One who can free you. 868 00:41:20,513 --> 00:41:23,255 And there's only One who can deliver you 869 00:41:23,255 --> 00:41:26,307 from his works. 870 00:41:26,307 --> 00:41:29,339 And that's why he says 871 00:41:29,339 --> 00:41:31,046 God did what the law couldn't do 872 00:41:31,046 --> 00:41:33,965 in sending His Son in the likeness 873 00:41:33,965 --> 00:41:40,570 of sinful flesh and for sin. 874 00:41:40,570 --> 00:41:43,784 It took the Christ to come and do 875 00:41:43,784 --> 00:41:46,815 what law can't do. 876 00:41:46,815 --> 00:41:48,320 It took the Christ to come do 877 00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:50,469 what we don't have power to do. 878 00:41:50,469 --> 00:41:52,139 We are up against an enemy 879 00:41:52,139 --> 00:41:58,661 who we are utterly unable (incomplete thought) 880 00:41:58,661 --> 00:42:04,429 Brethren, what I'm bringing you all to is this. 881 00:42:04,429 --> 00:42:08,795 What John's doing here 882 00:42:08,795 --> 00:42:12,517 is he's saying: "Children of God, 883 00:42:12,517 --> 00:42:15,611 look at the big picture. 884 00:42:15,611 --> 00:42:18,660 Jesus Christ appeared. 885 00:42:18,660 --> 00:42:22,220 He broke into the darkness of this world. 886 00:42:22,220 --> 00:42:26,724 He broke in to this dominion 887 00:42:26,724 --> 00:42:29,858 of the devil. 888 00:42:29,858 --> 00:42:33,424 And He came to set people free 889 00:42:33,424 --> 00:42:36,368 and it took Him to destroy." 890 00:42:36,368 --> 00:42:39,196 Those demons said, "Have You come to destroy us?" 891 00:42:39,196 --> 00:42:41,563 You better believe He has come to destroy 892 00:42:41,563 --> 00:42:42,882 what they've been doing, 893 00:42:42,882 --> 00:42:44,459 keeping these people helpless, 894 00:42:44,459 --> 00:42:46,010 just dangling them out there, 895 00:42:46,010 --> 00:42:49,904 just helpless like little pawns of his. 896 00:42:49,904 --> 00:42:52,128 Just keeping them his servants. 897 00:42:52,128 --> 00:42:54,722 And you know what? The thing is 898 00:42:54,722 --> 00:42:59,039 we don't even feel it. 899 00:42:59,039 --> 00:43:00,371 We like it. 900 00:43:00,371 --> 00:43:03,848 I mean, the deception runs so deep that we like it. 901 00:43:03,848 --> 00:43:06,051 We like our sin. 902 00:43:06,051 --> 00:43:08,864 The Scripture talks about loving a lie. 903 00:43:08,864 --> 00:43:11,678 We just loved it. 904 00:43:11,678 --> 00:43:13,537 Don't you see what he's doing? 905 00:43:13,537 --> 00:43:15,909 He has an army around him 906 00:43:15,909 --> 00:43:19,144 that are gathered around him to fight God, 907 00:43:19,144 --> 00:43:21,912 but he's not for you. 908 00:43:21,912 --> 00:43:24,591 He wants to destroy you. 909 00:43:24,591 --> 00:43:27,273 He wants to get you to do him service 910 00:43:27,273 --> 00:43:31,402 and fight for him and in the end, 911 00:43:31,402 --> 00:43:37,694 he will applaud when you get cast into hell. 912 00:43:37,694 --> 00:43:41,897 That's the kind of master that controls this world. 913 00:43:41,897 --> 00:43:45,836 That's what Jesus comes to set us free. 914 00:43:45,836 --> 00:43:48,073 He rescues from the grip. 915 00:43:48,073 --> 00:43:49,855 Brethren, what John is saying 916 00:43:49,855 --> 00:43:52,148 is do you know something of this reality? 917 00:43:52,148 --> 00:43:53,372 That's the picture here. 918 00:43:53,372 --> 00:43:55,169 This is not about just sitting down, 919 00:43:55,169 --> 00:43:56,629 bringing out the scales, 920 00:43:56,629 --> 00:43:59,271 putting how much I still sin in there, 921 00:43:59,271 --> 00:44:00,908 and seeing whether the indicator 922 00:44:00,908 --> 00:44:03,401 is on the side of practicing sin 923 00:44:03,401 --> 00:44:04,850 or not practicing sin. 924 00:44:04,850 --> 00:44:06,535 That's not what this is all about. 925 00:44:06,535 --> 00:44:09,334 He's telling us, look what Jesus Christ 926 00:44:09,334 --> 00:44:10,817 came into the world to do. 927 00:44:10,817 --> 00:44:13,324 Do you know something of that? 928 00:44:13,324 --> 00:44:15,587 Is something of that a reality in your life? 929 00:44:15,587 --> 00:44:18,196 Do you know something of walking through life 930 00:44:18,196 --> 00:44:19,691 and you were serving the devil 931 00:44:19,691 --> 00:44:20,821 and you were blind 932 00:44:20,821 --> 00:44:22,461 and you were quite persuaded 933 00:44:22,461 --> 00:44:25,311 that the God of Scripture needed to be redefined? 934 00:44:25,311 --> 00:44:26,792 You needed to tone Him down, 935 00:44:26,792 --> 00:44:27,960 back Him off, 936 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:29,530 not make Him so severe, 937 00:44:29,530 --> 00:44:32,100 redefine Him, create your own Christ? 938 00:44:32,100 --> 00:44:34,353 Actually when bad things happened in your life, 939 00:44:34,353 --> 00:44:37,649 you found fault with Him. 940 00:44:37,649 --> 00:44:40,372 And you were quite pleased to just think, 941 00:44:40,372 --> 00:44:44,169 ah, I can sin... which I did. 942 00:44:44,169 --> 00:44:45,599 I just drank it like water. 943 00:44:45,599 --> 00:44:48,437 And I just thought, but it's going to be okay in the end. 944 00:44:48,437 --> 00:44:50,636 Where does that come from? 945 00:44:50,636 --> 00:44:52,881 Don't you see Satan behind there? 946 00:44:52,881 --> 00:44:54,577 This is his work. 947 00:44:54,577 --> 00:44:56,237 You know how it's said 948 00:44:56,237 --> 00:44:58,931 that Christians are the workmanship of God 949 00:44:58,931 --> 00:45:01,068 unto good works. 950 00:45:01,068 --> 00:45:04,088 We are the workmanship of the devil 951 00:45:04,088 --> 00:45:06,870 to bad works. 952 00:45:06,870 --> 00:45:10,161 And he's just crafting away. 953 00:45:10,161 --> 00:45:16,874 And he doesn't care if you live - 954 00:45:16,874 --> 00:45:19,092 brethren, he doesn't care if it's atheism. 955 00:45:19,092 --> 00:45:23,198 He doesn't care if it's just being a nominal Baptist. 956 00:45:23,198 --> 00:45:27,443 He doesn't care what the title is. 957 00:45:27,443 --> 00:45:35,648 Just as long as you do not surrender to God 958 00:45:35,648 --> 00:45:38,200 and surrender to being saved 959 00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:40,903 by Jesus Christ. 960 00:45:40,903 --> 00:45:42,506 Just whatever it is. 961 00:45:42,506 --> 00:45:46,012 Be deceived by the psychology of this world. 962 00:45:46,012 --> 00:45:51,650 Just be deceived and chase after your idols. 963 00:45:51,650 --> 00:45:53,745 Folks, what John is asking us is do we 964 00:45:53,745 --> 00:45:55,245 know something of this reality? 965 00:45:55,245 --> 00:45:57,025 Do we know something of Jesus Christ 966 00:45:57,025 --> 00:45:58,978 breaking into this world to destroy 967 00:45:58,978 --> 00:46:00,352 the works of the devil? 968 00:46:00,352 --> 00:46:02,118 And are you seeing that in your life, 969 00:46:02,118 --> 00:46:03,354 it is being destroyed? 970 00:46:03,354 --> 00:46:04,845 Where now you recognize 971 00:46:04,845 --> 00:46:06,796 there is great consequence for sin. 972 00:46:06,796 --> 00:46:08,746 There is hell to be paid for sin. 973 00:46:08,746 --> 00:46:10,283 You now have your eyes open 974 00:46:10,283 --> 00:46:11,684 to who the biblical God is 975 00:46:11,684 --> 00:46:13,346 and who the biblical Christ is, 976 00:46:13,346 --> 00:46:14,854 and that He came to do battle 977 00:46:14,854 --> 00:46:16,172 and to set people free. 978 00:46:16,172 --> 00:46:18,446 And you actually feel that you've been freed. 979 00:46:18,446 --> 00:46:20,045 Not only do you recognize now 980 00:46:20,045 --> 00:46:22,794 that there is a great wage to be paid for our sin, 981 00:46:22,794 --> 00:46:24,892 but you recognize God is for us. 982 00:46:24,892 --> 00:46:26,198 God is a friend. 983 00:46:26,198 --> 00:46:29,486 God is on your side. 984 00:46:29,486 --> 00:46:31,270 You see, when you sit there 985 00:46:31,270 --> 00:46:34,595 and you just think: God's against me. 986 00:46:34,595 --> 00:46:36,231 Look how cruel He is to me. 987 00:46:36,231 --> 00:46:38,419 Look what He makes me suffer. 988 00:46:38,419 --> 00:46:39,832 Look what He puts me through. 989 00:46:39,832 --> 00:46:43,230 Look what He deprives me of. 990 00:46:43,230 --> 00:46:44,982 And you buy into that? 991 00:46:44,982 --> 00:46:46,547 You're just like Adam and Eve. 992 00:46:46,547 --> 00:46:48,204 (incomplete thought) 993 00:46:48,204 --> 00:46:51,308 You see, this is the devil 994 00:46:51,308 --> 00:46:56,976 creating his project. 995 00:46:56,976 --> 00:46:59,607 Just hard feelings against God. 996 00:46:59,607 --> 00:47:01,411 Because you know what? When you have 997 00:47:01,411 --> 00:47:02,733 hard feelings against God, 998 00:47:02,733 --> 00:47:07,062 it's really easy to say: Oh, He doesn't care for me anyways. 999 00:47:07,062 --> 00:47:08,599 If He won't give me this, 1000 00:47:08,599 --> 00:47:12,324 then I'm going to go get it myself. 1001 00:47:12,324 --> 00:47:18,199 Isn't that how we think? 1002 00:47:18,199 --> 00:47:19,713 And what John is saying 1003 00:47:19,713 --> 00:47:23,938 is Jesus Christ broke into the world to do this. 1004 00:47:23,938 --> 00:47:27,731 Little children, do you know anything of this reality? 1005 00:47:27,731 --> 00:47:30,090 Do you know anything of the grip of sin 1006 00:47:30,090 --> 00:47:32,694 being broken in your life? 1007 00:47:32,694 --> 00:47:34,639 Not whether your life is perfect or not. 1008 00:47:34,639 --> 00:47:39,254 Not bringing out all this remaining stuff 1009 00:47:39,254 --> 00:47:41,600 that needs to be sanctified out of your life 1010 00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:43,080 and put it in the scales 1011 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:45,585 and forever be staring at yourself in the mirror. 1012 00:47:45,585 --> 00:47:47,468 It's this reality: 1013 00:47:47,468 --> 00:47:49,030 look, do you know something 1014 00:47:49,030 --> 00:47:51,511 of this freeing power of Jesus Christ in your life 1015 00:47:51,511 --> 00:47:53,479 where you see God now to be on your side? 1016 00:47:53,479 --> 00:47:54,881 You see Him as your Savior? 1017 00:47:54,881 --> 00:47:56,409 You see Him as doing you good? 1018 00:47:56,409 --> 00:47:58,872 You see all things working together for your good? 1019 00:47:58,872 --> 00:48:01,167 You trust Him. You trust Him. You see His love. 1020 00:48:01,167 --> 00:48:03,194 I mean, if there's anything that ought to 1021 00:48:03,194 --> 00:48:06,323 show us and convince us (incomplete thought). 1022 00:48:06,323 --> 00:48:08,874 Brethren, Satan comes along and says 1023 00:48:08,874 --> 00:48:10,801 "God hates you. God is against you. 1024 00:48:10,801 --> 00:48:14,038 God loves to keep you down." 1025 00:48:14,038 --> 00:48:16,690 "No," says the incarnation! 1026 00:48:16,690 --> 00:48:19,098 "No," says the coming of Jesus; 1027 00:48:19,098 --> 00:48:21,762 the appearing of Jesus Christ in this world. 1028 00:48:21,762 --> 00:48:26,461 That shouts that God loves sinners! 1029 00:48:26,461 --> 00:48:32,481 Satan doesn't want you to see that. 1030 00:48:32,481 --> 00:48:35,951 Brethren, this is the big picture of these verses. 1031 00:48:35,951 --> 00:48:37,672 What Jesus Christ has done. 1032 00:48:37,672 --> 00:48:39,799 Can you enter in? 1033 00:48:39,799 --> 00:48:41,324 Brethren, I know in my own life, 1034 00:48:41,324 --> 00:48:42,328 I can look. 1035 00:48:42,328 --> 00:48:46,413 There's enough in my life 1036 00:48:46,413 --> 00:48:49,156 that one of the things that happens 1037 00:48:49,156 --> 00:48:52,338 is we think, well, if we fall short 1038 00:48:52,338 --> 00:48:54,276 of perfection on a daily basis, 1039 00:48:54,276 --> 00:48:58,523 certainly that must be the practice of sin. 1040 00:48:58,523 --> 00:49:01,823 Brethren, that's not what John's talking about here. 1041 00:49:01,823 --> 00:49:05,832 He's talking about the habitual practice of the life. 1042 00:49:05,832 --> 00:49:08,174 Just being radically changed. Why? 1043 00:49:08,174 --> 00:49:11,702 Because now you're God's project, not the devil's project. 1044 00:49:11,702 --> 00:49:13,982 I mean, have you seen anything of that caliber 1045 00:49:13,982 --> 00:49:15,328 happen in your life? 1046 00:49:15,328 --> 00:49:17,744 Where your desires before were to drink sin? 1047 00:49:17,744 --> 00:49:18,967 Your desires before 1048 00:49:18,967 --> 00:49:21,088 were to recreate the God of Scripture. 1049 00:49:21,088 --> 00:49:23,076 Your desire before was to think 1050 00:49:23,076 --> 00:49:24,726 that sin isn't a big deal 1051 00:49:24,726 --> 00:49:26,666 and you're not going to have to suffer 1052 00:49:26,666 --> 00:49:29,371 the consequences of it. 1053 00:49:29,371 --> 00:49:31,695 Whether your sin was out there 1054 00:49:31,695 --> 00:49:34,999 in the alcohol drinking, fun-loving crowd, 1055 00:49:34,999 --> 00:49:36,621 or whether it was in some kind 1056 00:49:36,621 --> 00:49:38,256 of religious morality 1057 00:49:38,256 --> 00:49:40,506 that now you look at Christ, 1058 00:49:40,506 --> 00:49:42,916 and you're not just doing this as a servant 1059 00:49:42,916 --> 00:49:44,076 under this whip 1060 00:49:44,076 --> 00:49:47,302 trying to do, meet a standard, rise up 1061 00:49:47,302 --> 00:49:49,751 and keep these commandments or whatever, 1062 00:49:49,751 --> 00:49:52,095 because you recognize that there is this God 1063 00:49:52,095 --> 00:49:54,632 who is out there that's scowling at you all the time 1064 00:49:54,632 --> 00:49:56,319 that you have to try to please, 1065 00:49:56,319 --> 00:49:58,842 but now you see Him as Abba, Father. 1066 00:49:58,842 --> 00:50:01,417 You see He sent His Son into this world, 1067 00:50:01,417 --> 00:50:03,318 and you recognize, 1068 00:50:03,318 --> 00:50:07,213 wow, I want to live for Him. 1069 00:50:07,213 --> 00:50:08,714 I want to be on His side now. 1070 00:50:08,714 --> 00:50:10,536 I don't want to fight with the devil. 1071 00:50:10,536 --> 00:50:13,850 I see His purity. I see something of His holiness. 1072 00:50:13,850 --> 00:50:15,802 And I want to be like Him. 1073 00:50:15,802 --> 00:50:18,072 And I don't like the remaining sin. 1074 00:50:18,072 --> 00:50:20,130 It causes me grief. 1075 00:50:20,130 --> 00:50:21,748 I really do want to be like Him. 1076 00:50:21,748 --> 00:50:23,518 I really do want to do good. 1077 00:50:23,518 --> 00:50:25,621 I really do want to live up to Scripture. 1078 00:50:25,621 --> 00:50:28,200 Oh, I know I have far too many seasons 1079 00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:30,248 where I'm cold, where I'm dry, 1080 00:50:30,248 --> 00:50:33,350 but my greatest desire is to have Christ 1081 00:50:33,350 --> 00:50:35,005 and is to live for Him. 1082 00:50:35,005 --> 00:50:36,814 And I do trust Him. 1083 00:50:36,814 --> 00:50:38,518 Oh, help my unbelief! 1084 00:50:38,518 --> 00:50:41,419 But I mean, brethren, 1085 00:50:41,419 --> 00:50:46,256 that's what we need to be looking for in all of this. 1086 00:50:46,256 --> 00:50:51,366 Has something radical happened in your life? 1087 00:50:51,366 --> 00:50:53,679 Brethren, He appeared! 1088 00:50:53,679 --> 00:50:56,325 Our Lord did come. 1089 00:50:56,325 --> 00:50:58,243 He really came. 1090 00:50:58,243 --> 00:51:00,284 And He came with a purpose. 1091 00:51:00,284 --> 00:51:02,883 And He came to enter in to mortal combat 1092 00:51:02,883 --> 00:51:05,446 with the devil. And for what? 1093 00:51:05,446 --> 00:51:09,719 Is it not, brethren, because He is jealous 1094 00:51:09,719 --> 00:51:12,759 for our obedience and allegiance to God? 1095 00:51:12,759 --> 00:51:14,399 And we have to ask ourselves, 1096 00:51:14,399 --> 00:51:17,025 do I see the God of Scripture now 1097 00:51:17,025 --> 00:51:20,366 as One whom I am allegiant to? 1098 00:51:20,366 --> 00:51:23,888 I mean, He is my Father. 1099 00:51:23,888 --> 00:51:26,943 I'm accountable to Him. 1100 00:51:26,943 --> 00:51:28,490 You know in Pilgrim's Progress, 1101 00:51:28,490 --> 00:51:36,335 when Christian came up against Apollyon. 1102 00:51:36,335 --> 00:51:39,254 Apollyon's trying to lure him back 1103 00:51:39,254 --> 00:51:41,783 to the city of destruction. 1104 00:51:41,783 --> 00:51:45,632 And he said, you know what, Apollyon? 1105 00:51:45,632 --> 00:51:50,437 I like the service of my new Master. 1106 00:51:50,437 --> 00:51:54,291 I don't want to go back. 1107 00:51:54,291 --> 00:51:56,100 Because he was promising him, 1108 00:51:56,100 --> 00:51:58,893 whatsoever I can give you I'll give you. 1109 00:51:58,893 --> 00:52:01,257 Just come back. 1110 00:52:01,257 --> 00:52:03,933 We'll give you the full payment. 1111 00:52:03,933 --> 00:52:09,150 And he said no, I don't think I want that. 1112 00:52:09,150 --> 00:52:13,969 My new Master, His service is good. 1113 00:52:13,969 --> 00:52:16,505 I mean, is that where you're at? 1114 00:52:16,505 --> 00:52:18,563 I want to be in His ranks. 1115 00:52:18,563 --> 00:52:21,628 I don't like what I still am, 1116 00:52:21,628 --> 00:52:23,933 but I want to be in His ranks. 1117 00:52:23,933 --> 00:52:27,014 I see that He's transformed my life. 1118 00:52:27,014 --> 00:52:31,322 I see that. There's a reality there. 1119 00:52:31,322 --> 00:52:33,103 I want to be in the ranks of those 1120 00:52:33,103 --> 00:52:35,087 who live for God and love God 1121 00:52:35,087 --> 00:52:36,848 and glory in His Son 1122 00:52:36,848 --> 00:52:38,274 and want to please Him. 1123 00:52:38,274 --> 00:52:40,313 And I want to practice righteousness. 1124 00:52:40,313 --> 00:52:42,538 And I want help to do it more and more, 1125 00:52:42,538 --> 00:52:43,799 but I really want it. 1126 00:52:43,799 --> 00:52:46,546 Do I have failures? Yes. 1127 00:52:46,546 --> 00:52:48,922 But I am not held captive 1128 00:52:48,922 --> 00:52:50,870 where I was before. 1129 00:52:50,870 --> 00:52:52,378 Where I was just blind 1130 00:52:52,378 --> 00:52:54,328 and unwittingly went along 1131 00:52:54,328 --> 00:52:56,673 in this defiance against Him. 1132 00:52:56,673 --> 00:52:59,556 Just foolishly and blindly thinking 1133 00:52:59,556 --> 00:53:01,416 that all was going to be well. 1134 00:53:01,416 --> 00:53:03,826 Brethren, do you know something of this reality? 1135 00:53:03,826 --> 00:53:05,170 That's the thing here. 1136 00:53:05,170 --> 00:53:07,149 And if you say, I do. I do. 1137 00:53:07,149 --> 00:53:10,904 Well, that's the assurance it's meant to bring. 1138 00:53:10,904 --> 00:53:12,237 There's nothing here about 1139 00:53:12,237 --> 00:53:14,038 meticulously looking 1140 00:53:14,038 --> 00:53:17,352 at your last 24 hours performance. 1141 00:53:17,352 --> 00:53:20,595 I'm not saying that your last 24 hours performance 1142 00:53:20,595 --> 00:53:22,645 is not going to have a direct reflection 1143 00:53:22,645 --> 00:53:24,707 on where you are at. 1144 00:53:24,707 --> 00:53:26,209 Certainly, it will. 1145 00:53:26,209 --> 00:53:32,600 But it's this big picture about Jesus Christ. 1146 00:53:32,600 --> 00:53:37,788 He came to destroy the works of the devil. 1147 00:53:37,788 --> 00:53:40,207 You'd have to ask yourself this: 1148 00:53:40,207 --> 00:53:47,146 has something been destroyed in you 1149 00:53:47,146 --> 00:53:50,825 that was very much a reality 1150 00:53:50,825 --> 00:53:53,838 some time in the past? 1151 00:53:53,838 --> 00:53:55,465 Do you see Christ at work 1152 00:53:55,465 --> 00:53:58,916 destroying something that was ugly 1153 00:53:58,916 --> 00:54:01,399 and defiant? 1154 00:54:01,399 --> 00:54:05,870 Oh brethren, 1155 00:54:05,870 --> 00:54:09,779 folks, the very fact that Jesus Christ has appeared 1156 00:54:09,779 --> 00:54:12,104 just blows Satan's lies away 1157 00:54:12,104 --> 00:54:14,414 that God is not for us. 1158 00:54:14,414 --> 00:54:18,527 His appearing tells us more than anything else 1159 00:54:18,527 --> 00:54:20,148 that God is love 1160 00:54:20,148 --> 00:54:21,755 and He has good purposes 1161 00:54:21,755 --> 00:54:25,504 for those who will surrender. 1162 00:54:25,504 --> 00:54:27,497 Don't fight against Christ. 1163 00:54:27,497 --> 00:54:30,465 Don't fight against the Christ of Scripture. 1164 00:54:30,465 --> 00:54:34,144 I mean, just the insanity of this world. 1165 00:54:34,144 --> 00:54:36,571 Can you imagine? 1166 00:54:36,571 --> 00:54:38,380 Christ comes into this world 1167 00:54:38,380 --> 00:54:40,713 to save sinners, 1168 00:54:40,713 --> 00:54:42,542 and the vast majority of the sinners 1169 00:54:42,542 --> 00:54:46,900 in this world hate Him. 1170 00:54:46,900 --> 00:54:49,957 They just hate Him. 1171 00:54:49,957 --> 00:54:51,934 That ought to wake us up immediately 1172 00:54:51,934 --> 00:54:55,581 to what's happening all around us.