Sunday, October 31, 2010 Speaker: Phil Hainaut Bold & Unashamed! 1 John 2:28-4:6 Message 3 in our series on The Three Epistles of John.

A. An elaboration of the moral test: righteousness (2:28-3:10) 1. Christ’s future appearing (2:28-3:3) (28) And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

Isaiah 6:1-5 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple..."Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." (29) If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

John 3:5 I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.‘ John 1:11-13: “He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! Matthew 7:16-23 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

2Peter 2:20-22 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." Galatians 5:19-24 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

(1a) How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1b) The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (2) Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

1Corinthians 15:49 Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 2Corinthians 3:18 We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

A. An elaboration of the moral test: righteousness (2:28-3:10) (3) Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as he is pure. A. An elaboration of the moral test: righteousness (2:28-3:10) 1. Christ’s future appearing (2:28-3:3) 2. Christ’s past appearing (3:4-10) a. The nature of sin: lawlessness (3:4-7)

(4) Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. (5) But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

2Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Hebrews 9:26 He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 1Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

(6) No one who lives in him keeps on sinning (6) No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 1:8,9 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

(7) Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray (7) Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. Romans 3:21-24 says: A righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

A. An elaboration of the moral test: righteousness (2:28-3:10) 1. Christ’s future appearing (2:28-3:3) 2. Christ’s past appearing (3:4-10) a. The nature of sin: lawlessness (3:4-7) b. The origin of sin: the devil (3:8-10) (8) He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

2:14-16 He canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (9) No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Romans 8:7-12 The sinful mind is hostile to God Romans 8:7-12 The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. Philippians 2:12-12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

2Peter 1:3-9 says: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”

(10) This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.