Hope and Holiness

I John 2:28-3:10 “Hope and Holiness”

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Today I want to show you how you can be confident when Christ returns. John does not want us to be ashamed when Jesus Christ returns. How can we be confident? Let’s find out.

Before we unpack the first part of this text, I want to address the elephant in the text (read 3:9). What’s John saying here? The text clearly says that Christian do not keep on sinning. What do you make of that? Does it make you feel uncomfortable? Guilty? Despairing? Confused? Perhaps John is confused as writes this letter. Maybe the Holy Spirit got a bit mixed up as he directed John to write this letter. Or perhaps none of us in this room are actually Christians.

John seems to contradict the experience of the Christian’s daily fight against sin. He also seems to go against some of what he wrote previously in the letter. How do we solve this dilemma?

This IS a hard passage. I found about 6 different views in my study. I am convinced that John says that Christians do not continue to sin, as the text clearly states. But, John is referring to a certain sin. Here are 4 reasons why:

1. The context
Our passage from last week gives strong warning against antichrists or false teachers. These people deny that Jesus is the Christ (2:22). In other words, they deny that Jesus is fully God, fully human, and that he died on the cross for our sins. There were people in that day that were trying to deceive John’s readers. Look at 2:26, then 3:7.

John encourages his little children by telling them that they have an anointing: the Holy Spirit living in them. The Spirit confirms the truth about Christ in the believer’s heart and protects them from the falsehood of the antichrists (2:27). In 3:9, the Holy Spirit is called God’s seed. This seed living in Christians keeps them from the sin.

2. The sin
This is sin is specifically defined for us in our text. Look at 3:4. Sin is lawlessness. This is the only time John uses the word law or lawlessness. In the NT, lawlessness doesn’t always mean breaking God’s law…sometimes we would use the word transgression. Often in the NT, lawlessness refers to evil in the world or evil associated with the Antichrist.

Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

II Thessalonians 2:3-4, 8-9
3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders…

John is using lawlessness in a narrow way or technical way to refer to the evil of denying that Jesus is the Christ and the evil associated with the activity of Satan (3:8). When he talks about sin that the Christians do not commit, he is referring to the sin of denying Christ.

3. John’s other teaching
In chapters 1 and 2 John is very clear about sin in the Christian’s life. We cannot deny it! See 1:8, 10, 2:1. To claim that Christians do not sin flies in the face of what he said earlier. I don’t think John is confused, and the God who inspired the text is certainly not confused.

4. The sin not leading to death
In 5:16, John speaks of sin leading to death and sin not leading to death. A brother—a Christian—will commit sin not leading to death. The sin leading to death refers to the sin of denying the truth about Jesus Christ.

We have tamed the elephant in the text. Christians do not commit the sin of denying Christ because they are children of God, and they have the Spirit living in them.

Let me be clear: saying that Christians will not commit the “big sin” does not mean that Christians live any way they want. Throughout I John, Christians confess their sins, obey God’s commands, live righteous lives, and love their fellow Christians. To define “the sin” in our passage as the sin of denying Christ, does not mean the other sins are not serious. They are. In our passage, John is serious about sin and about Christians living a righteous life.

Starting back at the beginning of our passage, we are commanded to abide in Christ, so we will be confident when he comes and not ashamed. Wouldn’t it be awful to be ashamed when our Savior comes for us?

I’m sure we’ve all experienced shame when someone comes overs to our house. “I’ll be mortified if they see the dirty laundry on the bathroom floor!” “I hope the children behave themselves and don’t throw a tantrum during the meal.” “Oh no, I forgot to put salt in the soup- it tastes terrible!” This is shame over mere house guests. Think of the freight of Christ’s return. I want to be confident when Christ returns, not ashamed!

How do we prepare? How ca we be sure we will be confident? The answer in our text is this: we live a righteous life.

John Calvin, a pastor from the 16th century, put it this way: “Faith is necessarily connected with a holy and pure life.” If we have believed in Jesus as our Savior—if we are Christians—we will live a pure and holy life. How do we know that? I find 3 reason why Christians will live holy lives. There are many other reasons in the Bible, but there are 3 here in our text

1. We were born this way (2:29, 3:9, 10)
Christians have been born again. Born of God by the Holy Spirit. If we are God’s kids, we have been born of him. That we are God’s children is another way of saying we have been born again. John speaks of this elsewhere:

John 1:12-13
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

In chapter 3, vs 8 tells us that if we are born again, we are born of the Holy Spirit. The difference between the children of God and the children of the devil is not wisdom, family lineage, or some act of the will, but an act of God. At one time we hated God; now we love him. Once we were in darkness; now we are in the light. At one time were dead in sin; now were alive in Christ. We once lived only for this present world; now we live for the world to come. The only possible explanation is that we were born again.

The beautiful thing is this: we were born from his love for us (3:1). God showed his love for us by giving us spiritual birth. We are now God’s children. Not children who are neglected, but children who were purchased by the blood of Jesus and deeply cared for. Not children who are forgotten at the store, but kids who always belong to God. God’s love is not an impassive feeling, but it is an active force. When God sets his love on us, it changed us from a child of the devil to a child of God.

The thing with kids is that they look like and act like their parents. When Zachariah was born, many people said he looked like me. I take that as a complement. When we compared my baby pictures to him, the resemblance was striking. Now as he gets older, he likes to do what I do. We go to the woods and hit things with sticks. When I sweep, he wants to sweep too. When I rake leaves, he wants to rakes leaves too, but not always in the same direction. When I shovel dirt, he especially wants to help. Little kids are often their parent’s shadow, mimicking what they do. The same is with a child of God.

We don’t think it strange when a child copies their parent’s behavior. But, why don’t we find it strange when someone who claims to be a Christian does not model God’s righteousness? See 2:29!

If you are not living like the Father, perhaps you don’t belong to him. Dear friends, “born again Christian” is not a term with no meaning. Those who God has set his love on are born again. The new birth has powerful effect in the lives of God’s children. They will begin to look more and more like their Father. They were born that way.

2. Christ came for this
Our passage states 2 reasons for Christ’s coming and death: 3:5, 8

Christ’s death was not an accident of history. It was not a mere example of a good guy dying for his friends. Christ came to die for our sins…to take them away. It should be foreign to a child of God to think that because Christ died for my sins, I can sin and it doesn’t matter. You as a child of God have the same purpose in your life as Christ did as he struggled up the hill toward his death: that is to kill sin. Christ took out sin so we would take out sin in our lives and live righteously.

The second reason Christ came was to destroy the works of the devil. In this context, this is sin. But one thing I want to point out there is this: if you are not a child of God, you are a child of the devil. There is not neutral category. A person who denies the truth about Jesus Christ is doing what the devil does.

John 8:44- You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Life can be confusing and complex. But in the spiritual world, things are very simple: you are a child of God or a child of the devil.

3. Christ is coming for us (3:2-3)
These are the verses I really want you to grab a hold of. They are the reason I entitled by message “Hope and Holiness.” John says: we know we are children of God now, but is going to get even better than that. We will be like Jesus when he appears. That’s going to be awesome! And if that is not awesome and amazing to you, repent and ask God to change your heart. We call this glorification: our complete salvation. We will be saved from the penalty, power, and presence of sin. We will be given a new resurrection body like Jesus. And will be perfect. We will be even better than Adam and Eve were before they sinned. The Savior who were have trusted by faith, we will see with new eyes.

This is our goal. This is where we are headed as Christians. To see Jesus and be like him. You might say: I will never be perfect in this life, so why even try? Because you will be perfect. It’s your destiny. We strive to live a righteous life now because we will be perfect.

John Calvin again on this passage: “For our faith cannot stand otherwise than by looking to the coming of Christ. This, then, is the only way of sustaining our faith, so that we may wait patiently for the life promised to us.”
Verse 3 is key: everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Think back to the shame I mentioned of a dirty house when guests come over. Shame will drive you to stay up late cleaning your house…dusting every nook and cranny. But there is a more powerful motivation than shame. And that is hope. Our longing for the time when we will see Jesus—that longing, that hope—purifies us. Hope is a future focused faith. Our belief in Christ’s coming makes us holy. How does that work?

When Emily and I were dating, I eventually began to save up for an engagement ring. The summer I bought the ring, I was working as an electrician, leaving sweat and blood in the attics of 100 year old houses in Scranton, PA. I picked out a ring, and had some diamonds from Emily’s grandma’s engagement ring set beside the main stone. I remember paying for it, which left me with about $50 in my bank account. And I still had to get to Michigan to give it to her. Thankfully, the Friday I left, my boss paid me some cash he owed me. So I took off in my semi-reliable 1986 Audi with enough cash for gas and food. But I didn’t care, I was excited. I was excited to see Emily, and to give her the ring. The hope of getting engaged to her gave me courage to set off on my foolish driving adventure. I did make it, and we did get engaged, and I returned with $30 in my bank account and car that spluttered up the hills of NEPA.

What are you focused on? If it is Christ’s return, you heart, your affections will be direction toward him. You will live to please him and be ready for his coming. But if your hope terminates on this world, it will show in your life. Matt 6:21- where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Christ is coming is not just something we sing about in church. It is not just something that theologians debate and teachers draw charts of. The hope of his coming is a living reality in the hearts of Christians, pointing them away from sin and toward righteousness. As we fight sin and live for Jesus, add the weapon of hope to your arsenal.