Knowing Christ Pt 5 — Philip Powell

To 2 John, no rather 1 John. 1 John, the 2nd chapter. I don't know if there's any more light. I need plenty of light these days, so can we have any more? I know it may be a bit difficult with this behind us, but it would help me because I can't see very well the scriptures here.

OK, thanks, that's much, much better. Alright, I want to read from 1 John chapter 2, verse 19. This is a final message on this particular theme that we're taking at the moment on knowing Christ. And the big question is, how do we know that we really know Him?

We say that we know Him, but how do we know that we really know Him? Can we give just simply a testimony and say, yes, well, I know Christ, but how do we know that we know Him? And we've seen that John gives five reasons.

Testing Christian Profession Through First John

We've come to the last of the five, but let me read from verse 19. It says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us.

But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. That's an incredible statement. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

That's where lack of transparency and deception indicates, of course, that there's something fundamentally wrong. Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Anointed? He is Antichrist that denies the Father and the Son.

Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father. I think there's more in that than just simply saying, you know, you deny Jesus. I think it's really a statement that's saying you deny His office, you deny His distinction.

One of the big issues that came up in the early Church was the distinction of the three persons of the Trinity, that they were distinct, yet they were equal. And this is involved in this statement. And of course, we've come back, we've done a complete turn now, that some of the most attractive, popular preachers actually deny this.

One man that's just come from America, has a church in America of 30 ,000 people, and see, everybody's going after the big names with the big numbers. But that's a deception in itself, because of course, I mean, if you want to do that, well, why don't you invite a Mormon, or why don't you invite a Roman Catholic, you know?

I mean, they've got the numbers, really, when it's really boiled down. You might say, not in one particular church, well, maybe not, but really, across the board, they certainly do. So, numbers, and you say, well, they're obviously false.

Yeah, really? You think of some of the guys that now are popular in evangelical Pentecostal circles, their doctrine is basically Mormon. It's just identical with Mormon. Yet, we will have them, and we say, no, you can't, but we won't have the Mormons.

See, and this is one of the big problems of our time. But this man that I was telling you about, his name is T .D. Jakes. Jakes, T .D., I think his name is. Jakes. And he has 30 ,000, they say, in his congregation.

He doesn't believe in the Trinity. He is latter rain, and yet he whips the people up. He's a dark guy, and he repeats things over and over again. If you listen to him, he goes into a mantra. That's what happens, and excites the people.

And of course, you know, people just get carried away with it. And that's the sort of thing we're up against. Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father. But he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Abiding in Apostolic Truth

Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, There's always this, you know, people say, Ah, you mustn't, you can't hold on to tradition.

No, you mustn't hold on to tradition just for tradition's sake. But you must remember this. There are good traditions, and there are bad traditions. And Paul does talk about giving attention to the traditions that have been delivered.

And so, here it says that you heard from the beginning. Hold on to that. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he has promised us, even in eternal life.

These things have I written unto you concerning them that deceive you. The word seduce is used here, but it's probably more accurate, deceive you. The Bible talks about those who are deceived and who deceive.

And they go to deceive, and then they become deceived themselves. And it's like a vicious circle. And then it says this. But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you. And you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you, of all things there is truth and there is no lie.

And even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. And now the text. And now little children abide in him. Christ is the central thing. Christ is the one that holds everything together. He holds the universe together.

He holds the Christian cause together. He holds the Christian gospel together. He holds the church together, the true church. Christ is central to everything. And now little children abide in him. That when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him in his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth. Some renderings put it practice. Everyone that practices righteousness is born of him. There are two instincts of the Christian. The first instinct is the instinct for truth.

We dealt with that in the two previous messages when we were talking about the anointing. So you have verse 20 which says, but you have an unction or anointing from the Holy One and you know all things.

This is an instinct for truth. Within the Christian, when he is really born again of God's Spirit, there is an instinct for truth. You know the difference between instinct and logic? You know they say the animal kingdom outside of the human family operates more on the basis of instinct.

They don't reason things out but they act instinctively. Well we have logic and we should use our logical minds, no doubt about that. But also God has put within us certain instincts. And there is in the spiritual realm this instinct for truth.

Verse 27, but the anointing which you have received of him abides in you and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you. I think people need to get to grips again with the understanding of what the anointing is.

We have given two messages on that. Very, very important. So there is an instinct for truth. John comes back to this when he deals with the issue of the deceptions relating to Antichrist. And of course that has particular reference to the end times.

Amazing what days we are living in. Brother Karl gave me a cutting here and I haven't had a chance to look at it completely. But it talks about the lights going out. And it actually talks about the fact that whereas there are more than ten nations now in the common market, there are actually at this point in time ten regions.

And so as you look at Daniel and you never know how it is going to pan out ultimately, but we are living in very, very significant times. And of course we have said many times the devil has got the world.

He is not after the world. He is after the church now. The real church. He is after you and me. He is after to deceive. And some amazing, amazing things are happening. That is why I believe God has raised us up to speak out on some of these things.

Through our papers and various other things that are happening. In something that came to me just the last couple of days, it is called Religion and Ethics. The cover story deals with what they call the emerging church.

Now the first of a special two part series on a growing movement that is rethinking what Christianity and the church should look like in a contemporary culture. You see lots of churches have bought the idea that we have got to be culturally with it.

The problem is with that sort of reasoning, if you are not careful, the culture will destroy the very message. And this is actually what is happening. Some, they say, call it the emerging church. Some say it is emergent, already out and progressing.

Whatever it is called, it is developing among both evangelical and mainline Protestants, especially young ones. For some it is confusing. It is also controversial, as Kim Lawton reports. Kim Lawton, in a dark sanctuary filled with votive candles, fast paced images flash across video screens.

Participants come forward to write their names on a wooden cross on the floor. At the altar, a DJ with a computer mixes the music to set the mood. Welcome to worship for the coming generation. More and more Christians say the usual ways of doing church no longer resonate in a contemporary postmodern culture.

That is what is being said by the big leaders of the churches, even the evangelical Pentecostal churches. That is exactly what they are saying. Seeking to fill the gap, a growing movement called the emerging church is developing new forms of worship and theological questioning for a new cultural context.

A man called Doug Paget, pastor, Solomon's Porch Church. Christianity is just simply not a stagnant belief, he says. And I know that that comes as a very hard concept for some people to put their minds around or for people to accept, but Christianity has never been stagnant and has never been about uniformity.

Lawton responds, but critics fear some parts of the movement may be heading in a dangerous direction. Don Carson, professor, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. You keep moving farther out and farther out and farther out until the whole cultural shift that is sometimes characterized by the label postmodern begins to domesticate what the Bible is actually about.

And at that point it becomes more than troubling, it becomes really a threat to historic Christianity. Lawton says this, worship is participatory and multi-sensory. People are encouraged to tangibly express their spirituality.

Many are weaving together elements from different religious traditions, especially Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Some are discovering medieval mystical practices such as walking the labyrinth, but adding decidedly modern twists.

It's a pick-your-own-mix approach that also stresses community and social justice. It involves yoga, Christians sitting around now on couches instead of facing forward in congregations like this, having interaction and saying we'll establish our own Christianity involving yoga and mysticism and all this.

Now the frightening thing is this, the question has been asked, does Rick Warren, purpose-driven life pastor, endorse and promote the Emerging Church? According to his most recent July 7, 2005 newsletter to pastors around the world, the answer is yes.

Rick Warren's stuff is being accepted in all sorts of churches. I talked just this last week to a Baptist brother who is most concerned about what's happening in that regard in his own church. Christians who have the Holy Spirit within them, the anointing, have an instinct for truth.

Discerning Spirits and Preserving the Gospel

John says, beloved, believe not every spirit. Hereby know you the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is not a matter of contemporizing the message. It's a matter of getting back to the foundation of what the message really is because this gospel is the only gospel that has the power to save men and women.

And brothers and sisters, we've got to keep flying that flag and we've got to keep hammering that truth because I believe ultimately we will rescue those on whose life the hand of the Lord is who will bring them into the kingdom of God.

Every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that's fundamental, is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come and even now already is in the world.

Now, not only is there an instinct for truth which comes through the anointing, this is all part and parcel of these five things that we've been mentioning. How do we know that we know Christ? The first is, of course, we keep his commandments.

The second is that we love our brother and our sister. The third is that we do not love the world. And the fourth is that we have the anointing. The fifth is that we are practising righteousness. There's an instinct for righteousness and verses 28 and 29 of our passage bring those into focus.

Knowing Christ as the Foundation of Christian Life

So today, our final question is knowing Christ shapes our lifestyle. Knowing Christ shapes our lifestyle. What I want you to see here with me today, very briefly, is three things. It deals, first of all, with our vision of Christ.

If we know that He is righteous. How do you perceive Christ? John says, He is righteous. Now, here we have, really, His unique personality and His unique life. Only that can be said of Him. It can't be said of anybody else.

Jesus is uniquely righteous. What is your view or vision of Christ? Then secondly, I want you to see that it focuses on our genesis in Christ. Our beginning. What John has been talking about around the table.

If you know He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Just as it's never said of Christ that He was created by God, but the terminology is used, the only begotten Son of God.

Never do you have the word create. So, with us, the primary concept is that we are begotten into the family of God. Now, I know we are called new creations, but again, that is on the basis of our being begotten into the family of God.

We share His nature, because He is righteous, uniquely righteous. When we are born of Him, we share, if I may use the term, we actually are linked to His DNA. Now, we know, we understand that term a little bit.

Today, I'll deal with it a little more later. And then it focuses on our destiny in Christ, our very purpose for being. This is the big thing that has occupied the thinking of people today, because of Rick Warren's message, the purpose driven life, the purpose driven church, and everything is purpose driven.

Of course, the purpose that he's doing that is to make money. There's no doubt about that. And he's making it incredibly. I mean, a 14 million copy of one of his books, and I think one of them up in 20, 30 million, reads what Brett Big is writing in our continuing earnest.

The new one is out soon, and he's got the second in the series there about Rick Warren. And it is serious stuff. It really is. It really is serious stuff. But you see, he's really, in my opinion, missed the whole point of Christianity, when he sort of just tries to present this idea, we're born for a purpose, and just present that whole thing as a driving force in our life.

Yes, we are, but it's not to be influential. That's, again, the thing that motivates the big churches in Australia and around the world. You know, I heard it so many times just recently, I believe. Yeah, well, what do you believe?

You know, we can believe 101 things, doesn't prove anything. But I believe I'm here to make a difference. Yeah, yeah, okay, okay. But really, what does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? The Bible says that we are here to know Christ.

The other thing is a spin-off from that. But when you make that thing central, I'm here, then that becomes the drive to make a difference. I believe I'm here to make a difference. And you will make a difference.

Of course you will. Particularly if you tap into the resources and the selling and marketing scheme of our day. Of course you will. But you'll miss the whole thing. That's not our purpose in the world.

We are here to discover Christ. Paul says, Oh, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. That I may be conformable unto His death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Without the death, as we've been told, there can be no resurrection. And yet you can be driven by a force, by an ambition, by a desire, which will ultimately destroy you and countless others who follow you.

It's been proved over and over and over again. Within the Christian, there is an instinct for righteousness. Let me just go back through these things then. Okay, what is our vision of Christ? Christ is not just one among many.

Christ is the only one. He stands alone, supreme, head and shoulders above all others and must become the unique attraction of our lives. Otherwise, we descend into idolatry. Of the late Pope, it has been said by a prominent evangelical man that the Pope had gone to heaven.

And he says, I know he's gone to heaven because he believed in Jesus. Well, the devil believes in Jesus. So, what are you going to do? Put him in heaven? But even that aside, the man who makes that statement doesn't understand what the New Testament means when it says believe in Jesus.

It's not just saying, yes, I agree he's there. Yes, I agree. Believe means to be committed totally to who he is and the uniqueness of what he is. In actual fact, the Pope did not deliver his soul to Jesus.

He delivered his soul to Mary. He said into Mary's hands I commit my soul. He also said that he committed Poland into the hands of Mary. He also said that he committed the whole world into the hands of Mary.

You can't trust two at the same time. So, did the Pope believe in Jesus? No, not in the New Testament sense. Our vision of Christ, what is our vision of Christ? And it's only the Holy Spirit that can actually give us the correct vision of Christ.

But Jesus said, as he was going to the cross, he promised that the Holy Spirit would come. The Holy Spirit is the only vicar of Christ, friends, not the Pope or anybody else. He is the one who replaces Christ here on earth.

But his work, we're getting a bit of an echo here, but his work is actually to show Christ to us. And you've read it many times I'm sure, John 16 verses 8 to 11. Jesus said, and when he, the Holy Spirit, is come, he will reprove or convince or convict, actually that word means, the world of sin, three things, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

Not judgment to come, that's a misquote. Sin, righteousness, judgment. And each of those that the Holy Spirit was going to reprove the world about, convict the world about, centre around Christ. Of sin, he said, because they believe not on me.

He's talking about the religious people who knew that he existed. So he's not talking about they believe that I exist. They knew he existed. But they were not committed to who he really was and what he really claimed.

That is what he's talking about. And he says that is the greatest sin, not to be committed to who Christ is. Now it's only the Holy Spirit that can open that up to us. Only the Holy Spirit. When he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will lead you into all truth.

For he will take of the things of mine and show it unto you. He will convince the world of sin. They can sit around in their sort of yoga fashion and engage in all the inter-religious ideas and build their numbers until they're 20 or 30 ,000.

What does it mean and what does it matter if the Holy Spirit is not there and has not shown them who Jesus Christ really is? He will take of mine and God, I believe, has ordained right to the end of time until the millennial comes for the Peter.

That he will save people through the preaching of the word. Not just by discussion. Although you could be quickened and helped and benefited by discussion, but through the preaching of the word with conviction of the Holy Ghost.

And this is why I would encourage you, brothers and sisters, and all of us, I believe we've got to work at it, to bring people to hear the preaching of the word of God, even if they don't understand it all intellectually.

They can get hold of something when the Holy Spirit is present who brings conviction. Of sin because they believe not on me. There is central and principal and primary righteousness in Christ. And all sin, ultimately, is non-belief in Jesus.

Because when you are believing in Jesus, He will keep you on the way of righteousness. When you are believing in the New Testament sense. When you are committed to Him, He will cause you to commit righteous acts.

And this is the proof that you are part of His family. He will convince the world of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness because I go to the Father and you see me no more. The greatest expression of righteousness is to be seen in Jesus Christ.

And the proof of it is that God has stamped His approval upon Him. And He ascended to Heaven and He was accepted. Hallelujah! And He is the One in whom is righteousness. And you see me no more. And of judgment, not future, but judgment which is past.

Of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. How was He judged? He was judged in Jesus Christ. And so the whole thing centers around Christ. And our vision of Christ is absolutely fundamental to the whole thing.

If you know that He is righteous, do you know that He is righteous? Hallelujah! If you know that He is righteous, this is vital to our present and our future living. It is our destiny and our purpose.

Yes, I want to make a difference. Yes, I would like to see CWM Fellowship and CWM worldwide make a difference. But that is not our primary motivation. Do we know that He is righteous? Righteousness centers in Him.

Sin, Righteousness, and the Need for Christ

I want you to note John's emphasis on sin in his epistle. Twenty-eight times he uses the words, various linked words, sin or sinned or siness. Twenty-eight times. He uses the word righteous or righteousness eight times.

It's a short epistle, but it's a major theme. Sixteen times the word sin. Seven times sins. Once sinned. Four times siness. Righteous five times. Righteousness three times. 1 John 3 .4 says, Whoever committeth sin transgresseth the law.

That's one of the definitions of what sin is. People ask sometimes, what is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. It's a law. It's like a line. It says, if you cross this line, you've sinned. Transgress means to cross.

It's a crossing of the line. God's law stands there as our schoolmaster to show us our need of Christ. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath.

That shows the Roman Catholic Church immediately is outside of the pale because it has disobeyed one of the fundamental commandments. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Honor thy father and mother. You know the ten commandments. Sin is a transgression of the law. It cuts across the law. And the Bible says, if we break the law in one part, thou shalt not covet. It doesn't mean that you can't desire something.

But it means there's a difference between coveting and desiring. But it means that deep down in your life there's a drive in you which is never content. You're always looking for something more. You're always seeking for something.

The Bible says contentment with godliness. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Some people go through life all the time they're pressed and pushed and trampled upon because they've never found their rest in God.

That's what it is. Thou shalt not covet. And if you're guilty of that, you've broken every law. You're guilty of breaking every law. And sin. That's sin. Another definition. 1 John 3 .8 says, He that committeth sin is of the devil.

For the devil sinned from the beginning. Christ coming to destroy the works of the devil and we think of Him healing the sick and casting out devils and all of that. And that was all part and parcel of it.

But the primary thing was to deal with sin because sin is the work of the devil. And Christ came to deal with that. 1 John 5 .17 says, All unrighteousness is sin. That's another definition. So, anything outside of the pale of righteousness is sin.

And Christ came to deal with the sin question. The Bible says, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. So, John actually addresses that which is fundamental to the human race. Now, if that is so, and we have that vision of Christ that He is righteous, and as the righteous one came to deal with the sin question of the human race, this verse also presents us with what our genesis is in Christ.

If you know that He is righteous, that's got to be settled once and for all. We know that He is righteous. We're absolutely certain about that. So, all these other things are just distractions if we're not careful.

Whereas, we've got to address truth and error and all of that. But we've got to know fundamentally in ourselves that Christ is righteous. Otherwise, we'll become wearied and we'll lose our direction. But here's the thing that flows on from that.

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who doeth, an old English word, it just doesn't mean that you just perform a particular act of righteousness. Who doeth righteousness, but it has the idea of practicing.

That you do acts of righteousness and you keep on doing it. Here we have this idea of our sharing in His nature. He is righteous. And so, everything that's born of Him has this stamp of His nature, His DNA upon it.

The spiritual DNA. Now, as a part of a family, I suppose we differ in our IQ. Is that right? I mean, we all have different levels of IQ. We differ with our fingerprints. But the area, and we differ in our personalities, but the area in which we're all joined in a particular family relates to this DNA.

You know, if there's a question about paternity, a child, what will they do? They'll go and get a test. They'll do a DNA test. And that identifies whether this person belongs to that family, whether this man is the father of this child.

The dictionary definition of DNA is that it's a self-replicating material which is present in nearly all living organisms, especially as constituents of chromosomes, and is the carrier of genetic information.

They talk about a genetic fingerprint. And now, right now, you've been seeing on your television that the DNA goes beyond death. That they can actually test bones and then get the DNA from the bones and relate it back and find out the identity of a person.

There's a spiritual DNA, friends. We belong to Christ. We've been told about it. The bloodstream. You can use what term you like. It's just that in the modern parlance it seemed that this was a good illustration.

We have a DNA. What is the DNA? That we know Him and that we belong to Him is that we do righteous things. We may have all sorts of differences within the framework of the kingdom, but there is one thing that joins us.

It is our spiritual DNA. 1 John 2, 29. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Now, here I want you to see a couple of things. I want you to see the source and force of this because, naturally speaking, we can't do it.

I love the Bible, don't you? It's so precise. I had a big argument with a dear friend of mine some time ago. I won't tell you his name. But it hung around this. And I know that he agreed with me fundamentally, but, you know, the argument had to wait for a while.

But it's interesting. 1 Corinthians 15, 45. 1 Corinthians 15, 47. 1 Corinthians 15 deals with the issue of resurrection. The great proof of the resurrection. The great chapter on the resurrection. Paul brings forth many, many proofs.

But he contrasts and compares two people. The one that he calls the first man Adam. And the second is the one that he calls the second man and the last Adam. And the terminology is very, very interesting.

Christ is never called the second Adam. But He is called the second man. Christ is never called the last man. But He is called the last Adam. Is that significant? Of course. Everything is significant in the Bible.

Why and how is He the second man? And why and how is He the last Adam? The verses are 1 Corinthians 15, 45 and so it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul. And notice it doesn't say and the last man Adam it just simply says the last Adam.

Why? Well, because the last Adam was more than the man. And that would have restricted the very idea. And so it is written the first man the first man, He was the first man and He was Adam of the earth, Adamah was made a living soul the last Adam still of the earth.

But not the last man Adam because He was more than the man. Was made a quickening spirit. We are not quickening spirits. Only Christ is a quickening spirit. And if we participate in His life then our spirits are quickened.

That's the implication. But then 1 Corinthians 15, 47 the first man is of the earth, earthy. Now notice what it says. The second man is the Lord from heaven. So why is He the second man and yet the last Adam?

Well, from Adam until Christ there never was another man. They were all fallen men. Though made in the image of Adam they had the effect of sin upon their lives and they were all fallen men. If you do not believe in original sin you deny the Bible.

One prominent Bible college principal recently said in the church man is not essentially bad he is essentially good. The Bible says otherwise. The Bible says man apart from Christ is bad or bad and he needs to be quickened.

If you deny original sin you have denied practically the whole of the Bible. We are affected by sin. So, from Adam until Christ there never was another man. They were all fallen men. But Christ came, hallelujah!

And He succeeded where Adam failed. He overcame where Adam fell and He triumphed gloriously. Blessed be His wonderful name. So then, why is He called not the second Adam but the last Adam? Simply because the term Adam really projects the idea of the progenitor of an order.

Adam was the beginning of the old natural order. Christ is the beginning of the new spiritual order. He couldn't be called the last man because He intends to bring many men to glory and you and I are among them, I trust.

Hallelujah! So He doesn't stand as the last man but He stands as the last Adam because He is saying nobody else will take this position. Nobody else will ever do this. Nobody else will be looked on with favour as God will look upon His Son and say, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

You listen to Him for He stands alone and unique. Blessed be His wonderful, wonderful name. There is a source and a force so that that One who stands as the beginning becomes the force of this righteousness because He begets us into the Kingdom of God.

You have to be begotten into the Kingdom of God. You can't think your way or pay your way or do anything to get your way into the Kingdom. You have to be born again of the Holy Spirit and only He can do that.

And this is part and parcel of this great thing that the Bible talks about. The anointing. Now what is the practical outworking of this then? He is the source and the force. What is the practical outworking of it?

New Birth, Confession, and Cleansing from Sin

John deals with the fact and impact of original sin and its remedy. 1 John 1 .8 he says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. That is, if anybody gets up and says, oh there's no sin in me, then you deceive yourself.

I've heard people say that when you become a Christian you never refer to yourself as a sinner any longer. Well I'm not too sure about that. Paul called himself the greatest of sinners and he said it towards the end of his life.

I who am the greatest of sinners. Why was it? Was it because he didn't think his sin had been dealt with? No, no, not at all. He knew that his sin had been dealt with. He knew that he was accepted before God.

But he knew in comparison with the one who is righteous above all others that he even there in the light of what he did before he came to Christ could be ranked as the greatest of sinners. If we say that we have no sin and this is where you have to examine yourself in regard to many things brothers and sisters and I do too.