At His Coming! | 1 John 2:28-3:3

The Apologetic Dog

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All right, so where are we at, Aaron? I know we were here

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Wednesday and Sunday, but it has been a couple of Wednesdays. Do you know where we're at,

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Avery? First John. Yes. Well, I thought you wanted me to get more specific. I did, but I'll take anything

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I can get at this point. So we're in First John. We're gonna wrap up chapter two, the last two verses, and we're gonna look at the opening verses of First John, chapter three.

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But what do we do at the beginning of every Bible study? We talk about context, and we review the context.

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So someone help me out with, what does fellowship mean? What do you think,

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Liberty? Absolutely.

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Like on Sundays, right? Yes, and we're in fellowship in some sense, even when we're not actually together, because we are unified by the

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Spirit, always Spirit that indwells us. There's that idea of the universal church, even saints that have passed on, they are part of the universal fellowship.

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But I like what you're getting at, too. There's something special with the local gathering of saints.

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Like what we're doing here is more special than how the world can get together in certain contexts, because we're getting together in truth.

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We're getting together in such a way that pleases and honors God. And back in First John, chapter one, we're told the

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Apostle John is saying that we have seen and we have heard of this gospel that we proclaim to you, so that you, too, may have fellowship with us.

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And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. And here's the purpose he's getting at. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

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So what does fellowship bring us as Christians? Great what, Avery? What happens when we get together in fellowship?

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We have joy, right? Because we're getting together in a way that honors and glorifies

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God, and we are learning more about God's truth. So what's something else that we've talked about,

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Lauren, in First John? It's not the

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New Commandment, but the Old Commandment. Ooh. That was tricky, right? Because if you look in chapter two, verse seven, and, beloved,

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I'm writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment. And then verse eight says, and at the same time, it is a new commandment.

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And so in a word, what he's talking about is love, right? To love your neighbor as yourself is an old commandment,

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Leviticus 19, 18. But we realize that we can't fulfill that commandment. Does anybody love their neighbor perfectly?

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No. But Jesus fulfilled that. And then he said, you are to love as I have modeled to you.

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Remember, he washed the disciples' feet, and he says, the whole world will know that you are my disciples with your love for one another.

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So to love your neighbor is also a new commandment when we understand that Christian fellowship, we have the spirit that enables us to truly engage in love with one another.

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A new commandment, a fresh commandment that truly fulfills the old. And who's the example of that?

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Jesus modeled what perfect love looked like. So that's really good. What else? We've covered a lot in 1

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John. Y 'all remember, I think it's 1 John 1, 5 that says that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

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What is that talking about, Aaron? There is light, and no darkness at all means that he cannot sin.

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Everything he does is perfect. Perfection. God is light. God is holy.

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God is love. And so he can't deny himself. God cannot be his opposite.

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He's the God of truth. That's so important to understand that he cannot lie. When he gives a promise, it's a guarantee to happen.

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He is holy. And he is so holy, he can't even tempt us to sin.

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We've learned in James chapter one. Anybody else? What's something else that we've talked about in 1

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John? In the opening verses of 1 John chapter two,

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Jesus is our advocate. What does that mean, JD? Doesn't that mean that he's dying in our place?

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100%. Jesus is our substitute. He is our mediator. And like Lauren has pointed out, he's like the middle man.

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And so when our own hearts condemn us, or the great accuser, which is who? Somebody help me out.

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Satan. Satan. You gotta say it like that, Satan. When he accuses us and reminds us of how awful we are and that we don't deserve heaven, who intercedes on our behalf?

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Jesus, with the perfect defense saying, oh, he's mine, right? He intercedes before us and the father, he's covered.

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Who can bring a charge against the elect of God, Romans eight says? Nothing in all of creation.

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That's a pretty good argument, right? If we are in Christ by faith, and faith alone, then we couldn't send our way out of his grace.

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And the beauty is, if we have a transformed heart, we don't wanna try. I'm just saying it's impossible.

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His grace is so much more limitless than how we could perform sin.

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We have a perfect advocate that intercedes perfectly on our behalf. It's beautiful.

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And so advocate means that he's our helper. We also have another advocate. Do y 'all remember who that is that we talked about?

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Third person of the Trinity. Any takers out there?

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Holy Spirit. Jesus promised us another helper. He's gonna go to the father and that he would send another helper, the

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Holy Spirit, that would guide us into all truth, which is what we talked about two weeks ago.

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Let's jog y 'all's memories. Look with me at verse 20.

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But you have been anointed by the Holy One and you all have knowledge.

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So what does that mean? The anointing of the Holy One. Y 'all remember what the anointing is?

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This is kind of a trick question, by the way. You remember, Aaron? You answered it last time.

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Did I get it right? You got half of it right. You're like, oh, that makes me feel real good.

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So the anointing is the Holy Spirit and the Holy One is Jesus Christ. And so we receive his anointing.

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And the reason why we distinguish those, look with me at verse 27 in chapter two. But the anointing which you have received from him who abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.

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And so the anointing is the Holy Spirit, but the Holy One in context is Jesus Christ. Remember the imagery is kind of like Jesus at his baptism?

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Who descended upon him like a dove at his baptism? Y 'all remember? God, the

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Holy Spirit, right? And so as believers, when we have a transformed heart, we now possess the indwelling of the

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Holy Spirit that teaches us all things. Does that mean we don't need any teachers anymore in the church since we have the

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Holy Spirit? Okay, you shook your head no, why? Because as for people who have received the

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Holy Spirit, they need to grow spiritually from their child states.

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Sure. Again, spiritually. Spiritual maturity, right? We grow in the faith. What we don't need teaching us is the world, right?

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In the world, human wisdom can't give us truth, right? And when we say we have the

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Holy Spirit that teaches us all things, that guides us into all truth, it's drawing us to the word. And that same

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Holy Spirit has gifted teachers from within the body. Y 'all remember the Ethiopian eunuch in Philip in Acts chapter eight?

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Remember Philip came up and said, hey, do you understand what you're reading? Do you remember what he said?

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He said, how can I understand unless someone guides me? Right, he's like, I need a teacher.

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And it's beautiful, because he was actually reading from the prophet Isaiah about the promised Messiah. And so Philip was able to explain to him the gospel.

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And so that's a beautiful model how the Holy Spirit does guide us into all truth by taking us back to the word and gifting other

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Christians to be able to teach and exhort from the scriptures. It's kind of like what we're doing here, right?

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You look to your pastors, your overseers saying, hey, I need to be fed, I need to be discipled.

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Help me understand the truth. And we all do this together, right? We're all different members of the body.

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And so we are better together. And so that anointing is the Holy Spirit.

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John brings that up a number of times. So let's get into our passage. Luke with me, starting at verse 28, and we'll read all the way into verse three of chapter three.

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And now little children, abide in him so that when he appears, we have confidence and do not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

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If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

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See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God, and so we are.

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The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are

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God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

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So what is y 'all's caption above verse 28 in chapter two?

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No, no caption? It's children of God. Okay, so this tells us a few things about, who wrote this epistle?

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John. What all books did he write in the New Testament, do we remember? Yes. So this is the apostle

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John that walked with Jesus, saw Jesus' baptism, walked with him during his earthly ministry, saw his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.

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And so John begins his letter by saying, this Jesus, we saw him, and in God there is light and there is no darkness at all, and we saw the fullness of God displayed before our eyes in Jesus.

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That's the gospel. And so now he's writing to Christians. One of the major thrusts in this whole book is he's writing these things that we may be joyful, and that we may rest assured in our confidence that we know him, that we have eternal life.

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And so he refers to Christians as little children, showing us that this is a spiritual family.

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John sees himself as a spiritual father. Y 'all remember back in chapter two, 12 and 14, it talks about there's children in the faith, and there's young men, young women, and then there's fathers.

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There's a process of maturity that we were talking about, right? And so he's constantly writing to little children, writing to Christians, those who have had their sin forgiven.

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Okay? And he says, and now little children, abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

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So raise your hand. What do you think he's talking about when he says, when Jesus appears at his coming?

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Any thoughts about what that means and is getting at? What do we celebrate in December, on December 25th?

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The birth of Jesus. So a lot of times we do an

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Advent series talking about Jesus' first coming, right? We have the first coming of Jesus, and then we have the second coming of Jesus also, right?

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And so Jesus' first coming, Jesus was the suffering servant, right?

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He was meek, he was humble, he suffered and died on our behalf, right?

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But then, that's his first coming, so that means there will be a second coming.

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What's gonna happen at the second coming? Any idea? Jesus will take those who he has saved and leave the ones which he has not, which is, you know, a lot of people, because, again, the world, most of everybody hates the word of God, so.

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Yes, it's true. So when we're talking, I want us to think about a few things when we talk about Jesus' second coming.

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Number one, all the text says is when he appears and at his coming. But we're thinking about the entirety of Scripture, and we know that Christ already came, right?

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In the first century, it was his first coming when he was the suffering servant, when he did his entire earthly ministry.

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And so this is after the fact, right? John witnessed all these things, and now he's writing this doctrinal letter to Christians.

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And now he's trying to encourage the children of God with the second coming, when Jesus comes at his appearing.

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And so Aaron is spot on. At the second coming, Jesus is gonna return in the future, and he's gonna return bodily.

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Does anybody know why that's important for me to emphasize? Because there's heresy out there that says that Jesus already returned back in 70

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AD, and it wasn't bodily. He returned spiritually, and he destroyed the temple in Jerusalem.

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Now, that actually was a historic event, but that's not the second coming. Y 'all may be like, why are you taking time to tell us this?

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Because I'm telling you, as you continue to interact with people in the community, you're gonna cross paths with people that believe some weird stuff about the

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Bible. So this is trying to equip y 'all. So the second coming has not happened. That's still something in our future to come.

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Jesus is gonna return bodily. He's gonna judge the living and the dead, right?

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He's gonna judge those that died in their sin, and they're gonna be punished for all eternity, right, in a place called hell, and God is holy.

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Remember, we're talking about God is light, and in him, there's no darkness at all. So God is going to pour out his just wrath on sinners, and that's exactly what they deserve, right?

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So when Jesus returns, he's gonna judge those who are in their sin, and he's also going to judge believers, but our condemnation has already been dealt with at Calvary.

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So does anybody know what kind of judgment will be for believers? It's not one of wrath, but it'll be rewards.

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So after you're saved, you will be rewarded based on your obedience. You may think, really? I thought this was all by grace.

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It is, and there's a beautiful picture in the book of Revelation that we will be rewarded with crowns based on our obedience, and guess what?

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We don't get to keep those crowns. We get to put them right back at the feet of King Jesus. Isn't that cool?

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So I'm just saying, yes, we get rewarded. That should encourage us to be obedient, but understanding that on the day where we get to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, it'll be one of rewards, and we're gonna be left thinking, man,

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I wish I had more to worship Jesus with. Isn't that cool? And so a lot is involved around the second coming of Jesus.

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We're gonna be building up to this truth, but we are going to be resurrected like Jesus, okay?

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Jesus was glorified when he resurrected from the dead. We're gonna talk a little bit more about that, but we as believers, that's a part of our blessed hope.

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We are gonna be resurrected with new bodies that are not cursed by sin, and it'll be a glorious body like Jesus, okay?

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So I want us to be thinking about that because I believe John is trying to encourage his audience, the children of God, those who've had their sin forgiven.

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And so if you wouldn't, look back with me at verse 29. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

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Has anybody ever heard of the phrase that you must be born again? Does anybody know what that means?

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I saw some hands go down real quick. Aaron? Born again spiritually, because first you were born of the devil, but now you've been born of the

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Holy Spirit. Absolutely. Very good point. In fact, look at chapter three, verse 10, because you are either a child of God or you are a child of the

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Antichrist, of the devil. But look with me at verse 10. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

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Like Lauren's saying, you're either the spirit of Christ or you're the spirit of the

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Antichrist, right? You're either with Christ or you're against Christ. There's no middle ground. You cannot be neutral with Jesus, right?

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Your heart is either trusting totally in him or it may be seen as rejecting him altogether, right?

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We cannot serve two masters. So real interesting phrase.

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If you know that he is righteous, which he is, he's perfectly holy, righteous, and good, in him there is light and no darkness at all, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of God.

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Do y 'all remember talking about that word practice a while back? So how many of y 'all practice sports?

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I don't. I don't know why I'm raising my hand. I used to practice sports. I used to love it. Does anybody practice music?

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Okay. So someone help me out. Why do you practice these things? Josiah?

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Why do you practice? I practice music because I have to. Because you have to. Okay. Well, there is an element to practice requires a discipline, right?

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Whether your parents are making you or you just know that you need to. What are some other reasons why you practice sports or music?

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Kenley? Yes. So you can get better at it. So you can get better. Great answer.

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Let me ask y 'all this. Do y 'all practice because you enjoy what you're doing? Sometimes it's out of necessity or because you have to, right?

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But even things you love, you don't necessarily wake up just wanting to do it, but you do it because you know you need to, to get better, right?

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So help me out. The Christian practices righteousness. Number one, because we want to.

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We want to glorify God with our lives. Does that mean that we always want to? No, sometimes we're going to sin.

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Sometimes we're gonna fall into temptation. But we have an advocate, right? Who intercedes on our behalf.

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Just when we're talking about walking in light or walking in the darkness, the children of God always are walking in the light.

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That's a path that we cannot totally leave. But it doesn't mean that we won't ever come in contact with sin.

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But our heart towards sin is different. We don't love it. We make war against it.

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That make sense? So we're talking about practice. Would you say it's fair that you have to plan in advance to practice?

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Even if you don't want to, maybe the schedule's been already made for you, right? So this is all the idea of what it means to practice righteousness.

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A Christian wants to live a life pleasing to God. We plan ahead, right? We plan ahead to go to church on Wednesday.

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We plan ahead to gather with the saints on the Lord's Day. We plan ahead. We think about, okay,

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I'm gonna spend time in the Word. I'm gonna spend time in prayer day by day. That's what I want to do.

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We practice righteousness, things that are honoring and pleasing to God. So help me out.

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What does it mean that the unbelievers practice lawlessness? Boom, boom.

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What do you think, Lauren? It's kind of like an undisciplined, do what you want. There's not really a strict,

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I'm going to try to do this. It's just a big free -for -all. It's a big free -for -all.

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Remember we looked at the book of Judges a lot? Each man did what was right in his own eyes, and it was just utter chaos.

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It was that downward spiral constantly. Think about this. Children of God desire to please

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God. We plan to do things that are honoring, pleasing Him. Unbelievers plan to sin.

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They love sin. They're not convicted by God's truth. They're not interested in the things of God because they're at war with their creator, right?

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So look with me back at verse 29. If we know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of God.

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Does anybody's verse say it a little bit differently when it says everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him?

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Does anybody have a different rendering of this verse? 29.

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I'm really wanting to know if someone's version says everyone who practices righteousness is born of God.

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Does anybody say that? I believe there are some versions that say that. Yours says that? What translation do you have?

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It's no big deal. But it's saying the same thing. I like the translation that says has been because there's something past tense.

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Something has already happened in the life of a child of God that is practicing righteousness.

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And so it's the last part of that. They have been born of God. They've been born of the

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Spirit. Their heart has been transformed by God. And so what you have to understand is you don't practice righteousness in order to become born again.

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That's wrong. That's what all false religions teach is that in order to be made right with God, to be

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His child, you have to do a whole lot of works righteousness, okay? With Christianity, it's exactly the opposite.

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God, by His grace, transforms our heart, brings us out of the darkness, and brings us into the light.

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We are born of Him, and that is why we practice righteousness.

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Does that make sense? Look with me at chapter five, verse one. Really similar sentence structure.

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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

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So why do people believe? It's because they have been born from above. Why do the children of God practice righteousness?

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It's because they have been born of God. And so John chapter three, same author of 1

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John, he talks about how unless you're born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

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And so the point is, unless the Holy Spirit transforms your heart, you cannot see salvation.

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You can't understand it. You do not have ears to hear. Does that sound familiar from Sunday?

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You get a pass. You weren't here. Who all was here Sunday? What was the sermon about?

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Oh my goodness, y 'all. That crazy guy got up there with the beard and preached on the parable of the?

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Sower. Sower. Oh, you're like, yes. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So do y 'all remember the part where Jesus says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

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Not everyone has ears to hear. But we proclaim the good news to everyone.

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And then when the Holy Spirit transforms someone's heart into the good soil, then they can receive the gospel.

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It take root and produces fruit in their life. And so I'm saying, this is John's version in a verse of the parable of the sower.

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If you know that he is righteous, if you know that Jesus is holy, righteous, and good, and he is the son of God, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

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Look with me at verse one of chapter three. See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God.

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And so we are. Now this is an incredible verse because John is excited. He is saying there is a boundless, limitless love that we have as God's children.

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Now let me ask you this. Do unbelievers experience this type of boundless agape love that God has with his children?

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They can't. They're not children of God. They're children of the devil. Now does

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God give good things to unbelievers every day? They deserve death, and yet God allows them to have a life.

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They deserve wrath, and yet God doesn't judge them immediately. So there's a type of general grace and love that God gives to the whole world of humanity, even unbelievers.

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But this type of love is unique for his children. And he doesn't even know how to articulate it.

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What kind of love is this that the Father has lavished on us? Now this is interesting because we're talking about the love of God, which is eternal.

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So nothing in our human -to -human experience can match that. We know a lot of different kind of human -to -human love.

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I think probably the best picture of human love is a love that a mother has for her newborn child.

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Even unbelievers experience that kind of love, right? But as we're gonna see in a moment, not only is

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God's love, daddy love, that love is eternal, and God has specifically shown an eternal redemptive love to his children.

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Bible calls that the elect. And all that means is those are the ones that respond to the gospel, right?

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The good soil, those that have ears to hear. It's a beautiful doctrine. It's a doctrine that actually gives us security in our salvation, one of the whole points that 1

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John is writing about, right? And so the Bible tells us the love of God is so vast, so deep, it's hard for us to explain, but the

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Apostle Paul tells us that while we were still sinners, rebels against God, he loved us when we were totally against God.

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People don't lay their life down for their enemy. That just does not happen.

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Doesn't happen, it's unhuman, right? It's transcendent, it's from above, it's from God, because Jesus laid his life down for his enemies.

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And then the backside of that, John, I think it's John 15, he specifically says, and it's for his friends, it's for the sheep, it's for the bride.

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So it's very specific. Yes, we used to be enemies, but oh, now we've been grafted in.

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Now we are part of the bride, right? And so my point is, as children of God, we have experienced a transcendent, eternal love that the world can't explain, right?

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Can't relate to at all. And when they ask us about this love, we point back to Jesus and says, that's the type of love that we've experienced.

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And the world looks at that as foolishness, like they just can't understand what we're talking about. But if you would, turn with me to chapter four in 1

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John, and look with me starting in verse nine. This is gonna tell us a little bit more about this love that has been lavished upon us, given to us very specifically.

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In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.

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In this love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

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Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

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No one has seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

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I love that because if we've truly experienced the love of God, then we, by nature, are going to be loving towards unbelievers.

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We are going to be especially loving to the saints. And so that's key.

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If someone says, oh, I'm a Christian, but they have hatred for other Christians, what does that tell us about that person?

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Avery? He's not saved. Probably not saved, right? I mean, ultimately, we can't see one another's heart, but if someone just kind of shows you their life, their fruit, their evidence that they have ongoing hatred towards one another, that's not a fruit of the spirit, right?

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And that's also to be encouraging to us saying, if I have something against another brother or sister in the body, we need to go make that right because we have been united together in the body by the same spirit.

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And sometimes that's hard. We do an imperfect job about that, but that's why we need Christian accountability in our lives.

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That's why we long to gather together with the saints. We need that sanctification, right?

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Okay, look with me back at verse one of chapter three. See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God, and so we are.

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The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

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So John elsewhere has said, look, you will be hated by the world. Does anybody know why?

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Does anybody know why the world hates Christians? Who did the world first hate?

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When Jesus came, was everybody like, yay, the Savior's here? Well, they hated him.

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Didn't they kill him on the cross in that whole incident? The world hates

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God. The world is at enmity with God, a deep hatred. And how do we know that?

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They killed the only son of glory, right? So think about this. If the world hates

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Jesus, then how do you think the world is going to treat Christians? They're gonna hate us too.

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They are intolerant of our views about what truth is while we're here. They do not like how we wanna live a life to the glory of God, okay?

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And so that's his point. He's trying to tell us you've been lavish with this deep, intentional, agape, redemptive love, and keep that in mind when you're being persecuted, when the world hates you, that's how it's supposed to be.

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And so verse two, beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.

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But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.

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This is an incredible verse. So let's unpack this a little bit. When he says beloved, we are

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God's children now, right? We are God's children the moment that we look to Jesus in saving faith.

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We're a child of God. That's an evidence of the Spirit at work in our heart, and we are justified.

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Does anybody remember what the term justification is? Does that sound familiar?

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Number one, justification. Just as if I never sinned. Justification means when you say, oh,

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I was saved back when I was 14. We're talking about the moment you were justified, declared right before God, the moment you put your faith in King Jesus.

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But there's also a sense in which we are being saved. This is our sanctification. We're being set apart from the world and being conformed into the image of who?

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Jesus. It's our sanctification. And then when we pass from this life to the next, we enter into glorification.

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We'll be glorified, especially when Jesus returns and restores this whole sin -cursed world.

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We will be resurrected with glorified bodies, no longer cursed by sin.

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So that's what he's trying to encourage Christians. Beloved, we are God's children now.

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And what we will be, remember glorification. We're not glorified yet. Are you perfect,

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Kennedy? Are you perfect, Justin? Okay, yeah,

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I was gonna say, we're gonna have to have a talk afterwards. We are not perfect now, but one day we will be glorified.

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We'll never sin anymore. And we'll be in eternal relationship with Jesus. Isn't that beautiful?

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A lot of Revelation depicts that imagery. It's only imagery because we don't have the human language to describe truly what that will be like.

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But check this out. We're the children of God now. Remember, we're justified. We're growing in sanctification. But we're still gonna be the children of God in glory.

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So these are truths that we're being encouraged with. Beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be, glorification, has not yet appeared.

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But we know that when he appears, what is this referring to? We talked about it earlier.

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The second coming. The second coming of Jesus, where in Jeremiah brain,

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I'm just picturing the sky being split wide open. The space -time dimension will just be, and Jesus is gonna come back.

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And all the world is gonna shake. And he's gonna defeat the last enemy, death.

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And then he's gonna transform this earth, and it's literally gonna be heaven on earth.

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Isn't that awesome? And he's going to resurrect the living and the dead. And so he says, we know that when he appears, we shall be like him.

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Does anybody remember what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration? It's a story in the gospel accounts,

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Matthew, Mark, and Luke, when Jesus says, all right, Peter, James, and John, I'm gonna take y 'all on a walk, right?

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And so they're chilling at the base of this mountain, and Jesus goes up by himself, and two figures appear out of nowhere with him,

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Moses and Elijah, okay? And Peter's description of this is,

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Jesus's face shone like the sun, just bright, shining. And poor

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Peter, he was so awestruck with what he was seeing, he opened his mouth and said, let's make an altar for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.

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And then the voice of the Father boomed from heaven and basically said, you need to be quiet and listen to my son whom you please.

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Because we don't worship three people, right? With Moses and Elijah, with Jesus, it's

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Jesus Christ and Christ alone, right? And so poor Peter, because we would all have made the same decision, poor decision, more than likely.

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Poor Peter. But the point is, I think we get a picture of what we will be like.

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That is telling us that we will shine in glory with him. Because that is a peek into his second coming.

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He's shining in glory. Remember when Jesus was on earth, he wasn't just shining everywhere he went. But it's almost like the veil was taken back just a little bit and you saw his face shining like the sun.

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We will be transformed like him. And so we're being transformed day by day from one degree of glory to the next in sanctification.

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And a very practical verse, if y 'all wanna, if you're note takers, Romans 12 verse two talks about, we are not to be conformed into the image of this world, the ways of this world, but we are renewed in our minds with the word of God.

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That's going to transform us. Same word used in the Mount of Transfiguration.

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So the word of God, Jesus says, your word is truth. The word of God transforms us.

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It's the living word of God. It's sharper than any double -edged sword. And when I started, y 'all remember that John Piper video

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I played a while back, just talking about why we should memorize scripture so we can meditate on it, so we can have truth hidden in our hearts so we may not sin against you,

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God. Truth sanctifies us, makes us more and more like Christ.

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And so we were justified, past tense, by faith, and faith alone. And then day by day, we are living our lives to the glory of God, spending time in prayer, spending time in the word, spending time in fellowship with the saints.

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That's going to make us less like the world and make us more and more like Jesus Christ until one day we will be perfected in glory.

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And so all that is going to happen when he appears. We shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.

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That is beautiful. There is a future second coming of Jesus and he's gonna restore all things.

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And you know what? When we go through hurts and pains of this world, I can't hardly watch the news these days,

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I'm just, I'm left reminded, you know what? I can't wait for glory. You know what

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I mean? And all of us here are young. And I think even young people, we're not guaranteed any more days, right?

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But it's like, Lord, come quickly. I'm ready. But while I'm still here, I'm gonna live as Christ, all to the glory of God.

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I remember being more of y 'all's age and I remember some of my prayers were like, Lord, yes, you're in control of all things, but I just really wanna do this one thing.

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Like, just please wait long enough for me to do this. And you know what? Let me encourage you. If you ever have that thought of,

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I just wanna do this one thing before he comes or takes me home, being with Christ, being in the new heavens and new earth, that will be far greater than anything that we can imagine.

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The most fun, enjoyable thing you think here on earth, that will not compare to being in eternal communion with Christ.

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So I'm just saying, be encouraged. Nothing in this world can make you truly wanna stay here over that, but God's in control of that.

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And so we wanna encourage each other with these truths. And so lastly, look with me at verse three.

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And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

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To me, this is talking about sanctification. We undergo that process of being purified, right?

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If you get a precious metal and it goes into a furnace, it burns up the impurities and it comes out even more valuable.

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That's like sanctification. That's when we go through hardships and trials. It stinks in the moment, maybe through tears, but what happens for the believer after the hardship is over?

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Your faith is stronger. You look back and are like, man, I really had to rely on Christ during that time.

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That's what it's all about. That's why James chapter one says the believer can count it as joy when you go through various trials, that your faith may be perfect.

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It can be more whole. And so I really think that John is encouraging

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Christians about their justification, their sanctification, and one day when

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Jesus returns, we will be resurrected with glorified bodies. What do y 'all think?

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I got a few thumbs up. Any questions or snarky rebukes about anything?

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Someone raise your hand and tell me something that stood out to you in this passage or something that we talked about.

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Isn't there a verse in the Old Testament saying what you said is we desire to go home to God, but it is necessary to stay down here living?

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Yes, well, I don't know about the Old Testament, but I know the New Testament, the Apostle Paul basically says it's more beneficial for me to stay for your sake, but then he says, but for my sake,

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I would rather be with the Lord to live as Christ to die as gain. But that's a good way of looking at it is as long as I'm here,

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I wanna benefit other people. I wanna share the good news. I wanna make disciples. I wanna invest with my church family.

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I wanna be all in, baby. Whenever I can be with the saints, my church family, that's where I wanna be.

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But you know what? To die as gain. And 1 Corinthians 15 is kind of referred to as the resurrection chapter, but it tells us that Christ's resurrection was but a foretaste, an example of what our future resurrection will be like.

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Yes, we've been made alive, resurrected spiritually now by the work of the Spirit, but God will restore our sin -cursed bodies.

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And it says at his coming, right? This is exactly what John was talking about. At his second coming, and it'll be at the end of redemptive history, and he will restore all things.

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And the text says something to the effect that he will deliver the kingdom to the Father as he defeats the last enemy, death.

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Really cool. All right, someone else tell me something that stood out to y 'all in this text.

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JD? It's kind of crazy to think how the best thing in the world, like literally the best thing you can ever think of, is nothing compared to what's in heaven.

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And that should just build up the excitement and just make you realize that everything here on earth is nothing.

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You're right, it's all gonna burn up, right? Didn't he even say that at the end of verse, oh, where was it?

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At the end of verse 17, chapter two, the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

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I wanna say it's the Apostle Paul, he got a vision into the throne room of heaven, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and he said it's too inexpressible for words.

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He couldn't explain his experience when he had a vision into the throne room. And so I just think that goes back to what you're saying, like it's too fantastic for us to even use human language.

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That should be exciting. We know the end of the story, right? Jesus already won, we're with him, we win, we're more than conquerors.

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And I think about, so a lot of you love to read, right? What's a big no -no? You're not supposed to turn to the very last page and read the ending.

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I did that a few times, Kennedy, I'm really sorry. But with Christians, we're supposed to do that.

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We're supposed to go to the end of Revelation that tells us many truths about what it looks like God dwelling with man.

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And like what we're talking about here, to be encouraged by these truths. Anybody else?

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What about you, Lauren? Like, but I wanna do this, but I wanna do that, but that's, but this.

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The things of this world don't ultimately matter. Remember, Jesus said it best. What would it gain a person if they had the whole world and yet forfeited their very soul?

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What does it mean to have all the money, wealth, influence, power here on earth, but you stand condemned before your maker?

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You don't know Jesus by faith. That puts things in perspective, like about what's more important, temporal things or eternal things.