We're Talking about Practice?!?!

Well, good morning. My name is Pastor Eric, and it's a joy

to be with you this morning. It's always a pleasure to have the opportunity

to get up here and bring God's word, and I'm just so thankful for

the opportunity. Would the ushers come forward. If you need a bible or

a bulletin or a pen, please raise your hand. They'll get one for

you. We'll be spending some time in the Bible and we'll be taking some

notes so that the outline will be helpful for you as well. Let me

go ahead and invite Tony up here. So we're going to be in First

John chapter two, verses twenty eight through chapter three, verse ten, and

Tony's going to read for us, and he's going to read in Spanish.

Yes, So if you don't know Spanish like me, please all along behind

me or in your own Bible as Tony breeds. Thank you. Tony.

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presisa mente pulas obras del diablo, Nacido de Dios, practical peccado or keela

semio de dios permann l no practical re pecado porquanacido de rios as my man,

thank you. So, as I was preparing this message and and one

of the guys on the sermon prep team was coming alongside me. He he

had sent this YouTube video kind of just for for fun, and he didn't

realize I think that this would be a key part of my message at the

at the time. And and this video is of a Hall of Fame basketball

player, Alan Iverson, and Alan Iverson is in the middle of a press

conference and they're asking him, Hey, so your coach had had mentioned about

you missing practice, and you know, you know, it's just kind of

one practice. You know, sometimes I might get hurt, but you know,

I'm the franchise player, so it was just one practice. But you

know, so you continued on for the on this rant for about three minutes,

saying like, man, we're talking about practice practice. You know,

I'm I get my own in the game, don't you know that I put

my blood sweat in tears during the game. Bort's sitting here talking about practice,

practice, not the game, and the one of the reporters responded back,

well, you know, don't can't you help make your your teammates better

at practice? It's like, no, how can I make my team better

at practice? We're talking about practice, not the game. And as I

listened to that message that Alan Iverson was giving and studied this passage, it

became more and more clear to me how much my thought processes aligned with Alan

Iverson's in my walk with Christ. You know, there's these certain key marks

that I need to hit as a Christian. My marriage is good, my

kids aren't messed up that bad, you know, these different things. But

in this passages we'll see it talks about practicing righteousness as Christ was righteous.

And so if I'm honest with myself, that I have that attitude that Iverson

did, not striving for righteousness in the ordinary of life. So as we

look at this book of First John, it's a book that is really John's

goal here is to assure the believers in their confidence of their salvation at a

time where there's people that are kind of bringing about mixed signals about what Christianity

is. Well, you don't really sin doesn't really matter because it is not

really spiritual. You know, the physical and the spiritual they don't mesh.

And John is trying to convey to his audience here like, Hey, you

can be confident regardless of what's going around. You can experience joy in Christ

regardless of what's going around. And so this passage here we take it.

Children of God walk in his ways and set their hope and confidence in the

work and his purifying return. So we're going to have confidence and hope in

his return, as we see at the first part of this passage. And

now little children abide in Him, so that when he appears, we may

have confidence not shrink from him at shame at his coming. If you know

that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has

been born of him. See John describes what his readers can enjoy most,

and that's confidence in Christ. Confidence in their assurance. See. There may

be all kinds of stuff going on around you, but I want you to

know that if you abide in Christ, if you remain in Him and have

confidence in his work and his righteousness, you can have confidence when he comes.

See this confidence comes through the work of Christ's holding us in him.

But also, as you see at the end of that verse. At the

end of that verse, are abiding and our practicing of righteousness. See abiding

here is an action, It's a command abide in Him, so that you

may have confidence and not shame. Abiding will result in the replication of His

righteousness in the believer. Confidence also comes in the promise and hope of his

purifying return. Things may not be right in this world, but there's hope

that one day it will be upon his return. And even day by day

by day, as Christ works in your life, as he makes you more

like him, you can experience that here as well. So there's three things

that we can see here in this text about those who abide in Christ.

And to kind of define abide. Abide means to remain, to dwell,

to be present with So Donna saying if you remain, if you dwell,

if you are remain present with Christ in this passage, that's what he's talking

about. See, there's a change by abiding in Christ. There is a

number one change in attitude. Right, So for those if you look back

a little bit in verse twenty three. No one who denies the son has

a father. Whoever confesses the son has a father. Also, let what

you have heard from the beginning abide in you, and what you heard from

the beginning abide in you. Then you too will abide in the son and

the son and the father. There's a mutual abiding right. It's saying that

if you believe what you confess, Christ abides in you, and if you

abide in him, he will abide in you. So there's a change in

attitude as we see in verse twenty eight. And now little children. John

is kind of older, and he's got this affection for the people he's writing

to. I love you, guys, I have an affection for you.

And now little children abide in him. So when he appears, we may

have confidence versus shame, that you may know you have eternal life, that

you may have joy, be complete in your salvation. He truly wants you

to know that you can have confidence and not shame as you look to the

coming of Christ. Confidence to walk faithfully, confidence to experience the joy of

Christ. See this promise is for you, as you said, it's eternal

life. And those who abide in Christ, should have confidence and boldness before

the Lord. I'm reminded of kind of this dual confidence and action in rock

climbing. Right. So, rock climbing you kind of need two things.

You need to harness in case you rock climb like me or you, and

you need your skill right to be able to go from run rock by hand

and by foot at a time. Right, So that harness you strap it

in and you're hoping that if I fall, and I will, that it's

going to catch me before I hit the ground. Right. But I also

to make any progress have to move my hand in my foot to go up

the wall or go up the rock. Right, there's two things that are

happening in rock climbing that I'm putting my trust in. And the same is

this twofold confidence, confidence in the promises of God and confidence in us abiding

in practicing righteousness. That whoever confesses the son has the Father confident that he

will surely do it and he will keep You. See, our confidence is

linked to the promise of God, which he will never break. Are you

trusting in the power of God's promises as you walk in your life day to

day? You know the word Abide in verse twenty eight is to action.

It's not passive. Just as Jesus was active in his righteous work on the

cross, and he's active in his abiding in you, you do the same.

Don't be passive, be active. Do you see the link of abiding?

Says abide so that you may have confidence practice righteousness. Philippians two twelve

says to work out your salvation. See, it's the aspect of faith that

produces fruit. Works are the output of faith. Right, it's you confess

Christ is your savior, and the output is righteousness. That shows we don't

earn our salvation by works. Works are kind of a result of our confession

of faith in Christ. So how are you resting in God today and his

promises? How are you walking out in faith? This? This reminds me

of a biblical counseling a diagram. It's called the circle of responsibility. And

there's these two circles in this diagram. The first one is where I'm responsible

and I obey. The second one is where I'm trusting someone else. I'm

not responsible to do anything, but I'm trusting in God or even in someone

else that that it's going to happen. Think about maybe someone with a in

a job loss, Right, they're trusting in God for him to provide.

However, they have to take action to apply for jobs. You're not going

to hire themselves, right, So so they're responsible for action in applying for

jobs, while at the same time they're trusting in the Lord to provide.

So you got obedience and you got trusting and God wants us to do both.

Right. Maybe maybe you have your going through that job loss, maybe

you have a health condition and and and the doctor says do these things.

You got to do those things and trust God at the same time. Right,

both go together. Matthew says, don't be anxious. And so that's

kind of we're trusting in God to provide. We're not being anxious, We're

trusting in him. We're doing our part. I'm also reminded kind of of

the spiritual disciplines that we have in our life. Right, we are trusting

God that as we meet with him, he's going to meet with us.

So there's a responsibility on my part and a trust in God on his part.

However, sometimes we take those spiritual disciplines and we're kind of like,

well, you know, I've got a super busy day today at work,

and I could be more productive and efficient if I just spend that thirty minutes

or that fifteen minutes working on this project rather than focusing on Christ, which

is going to be more impactful, which is going to be long lasting.

And that kind of leads into the next thing. Right, So we have

a change in attitude confidence versus shame, and then we have a change in

association. We look at verses one and two. See what kind of love

the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God,

and so we are. The reason why the world doesn't know us is that

it did not know him we love. We are 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 are we shall see him like

he is. Right, So there's this change in association. We're reminded of

the love that the Father has given us to call us children of God.

You are so loved, you are now his child. We are a new

creation that is set apart. Second Corinthians five seventeen said, Therefore, if

any one is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has

passed. Behold the New has come. There's this clear delineation those in Christ

and there's everybody else. You can't have it both ways. You're either in

Christ or you're not. You're a new creation or you're not. So as

we walk in our lives as a Christian, as we step out in faith

to obey, to practice righteousness, we should not be surprised by the response

of the world as our priorities change, as we live out different ways,

as our priorities are focused on maybe not on retirement or wealth building, but

it's focused on church building and church planting and those different things. And they

wonder why it's The reason is because the Bible says that we are aliens in

the land that we are supposed to be in, that we're so journers,

not at home. It reminds me kind of a royal family versus a traditional

family. Right, so as as a royal you have different expectations. You're

expected to live in a certain way. People view you in a different way,

and if you don't act in that way, you're ostracized. And imagine

going from a traditional, ordinary family that you know, really not really looked

on. No one really cares about how you act to being a royal where

now your actions matter. Now your actions reflect the entire family, and that

is the same as us in Christ, our actions reflect the Kingdom of God.

And so this change in association should change our aspirations, should change how

we view the future. So we've got a change in attitude, we've got

a change in association, and we have a change in our aspirations as we

look in verses two and three, I beloved, we are God's children,

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. See has

believers. We are to hope in his return. The world is not what

it's supposed to be. We've been learning that in Romans right. It's not

what we're supposed to be. The world's not what it's supposed to be.

So we should be looking future. We should set our hope in his return.

We should set our hope in his daily work of purification in our li

So there's that gradual sanctification as we're here, and when Christ comes there's the

ultimate transformation in glory and purification. See, we have to hope in experiencing

his return. And this is not passively waiting, right, We're not just

you know, sometimes Christ will come back, so I'll just sit and do

nothing. No, this is an active waiting. We are actively waiting,

while we're practicing, while we're walking, while we're being obedient. See.

His return motivates us to live a life reflective of his work. And there's

a testament of his sanctification, of his purification until that time when we shall

be like him. See John here is using his affection to encourage, to

remind his readers, to remind us of the amazing work and love that Christ

did for us on the cross. Right, he did this work and a

love for us that he would set himself aside, take thin on himself so

that we could see glorification and purification through him and only him. Right,

there's so many things that we can set our hope on, so many things

in this world that we can be tempted to focus on. Careers, family,

retirement, vacations, and all of those are fantastic thing. And the

Bible even wants us to stewart our finance as well. That the Bible wants

us to steward our family well, but not at the expense of prioritizing all

of those things first and foremost and making everything else secondary. What are you

hoping in today? Is it Christ and his work? Or are you hoping

in those finances that come from that God or that job that God has given

you and not the one who has given it to you. See, as

John continues his argument of the importance of walking in the ways of Christ and

hoping in him, he begins to talk about the relationship of sin and the

believer. So we've got having confidence and hope in his return and realizing sin's

incompatibility with Christ. As we hit verses four through ten, and we look

at the section and see a clear dichotomy between sin and righteousness. And while

the term practice isn't used as much as Alan Iverson used in his YouTube video,

it's used six times in six verses. And we know with repetition in

scripture that's emphasis and focus. And so we want to look at that emphasis

that John is using about practice and to kind of define what Paul is meaning

by practice here. It's the habitual manner your life style is marked by.

So as John begins to describe sin, practicing sin and practicing righteousness. It

reminds me of the difference between gasoline and diesel. Right, they're not incompatible.

Right. If I put diesel in my car today, I'm going to

be at the mechanic tomorrow. Right, and vice versa. If you put

gas in your diesel truck, not only are you going to be trying to

find a ride, you're going to be trying to figure out how to pay

for that repair. Right. And the same is the case between righteousness and

sin. They're incompatible with one another. So John has a couple different realms

of comparing contrast, and the first one is in verses four through six.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.

You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in him

there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Right,

So we see this comparison of sin is lawlessness right, which the word

used here in Greek is means utter disregard for God's law. And we know

that Christ came to fulfill the law and his purpose was to take away sins.

And so there's a very a big contrast between those two things, saying,

man, if you're in Christ, you don't practice lawlessness. That was

not his purpose. His purpose wasn't for sin. His purpose was to practice

and abide in righteousness. That your lifestyle is marked not by sin, but

by walking in righteousness, because that's not aligned with the purpose of Christ.

Right, if we're trying to do everything that we can to walk in this

world, it's in total contrast with what Christ came to do. And verse

seven it talks about little children, let no one deceive you. And so

in the prior context of this passage and verses eighteen through twenty seven, and

John is talking about how there are people that are making errors with the foundations

of the Gospel and sin, and he kind of describes those in Christ as

those who follow Christ and those who not as the anti Christ, and that

they're deceiving them in leaving. Right, so they've left the church, And

don't be deceived by their foundations and by their beliefs of the gospel. You

already know it. Sin and righteousness are not aligned. Don't be deceived,

don't be led astray from the foundation principles of Gospel truth. You can't do

one and do the other, and the mesh He's reminding them all sin and

fall short of the glory of God. Christ died for all sinners. He's

righteous. Second Corinthians five twenty one says, for our sake, He made

him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we

might become the righteousness of God. So our pursuing righteousness is not because Eric

is righteous. Our pursuing righteousness is based on the foundation of the Gospel that

Christ is righteous, and it's through the power of Him and the Holy Spirit

that we can walk in righteousness as those made right through repentance. We look

in verses eight and nine for the second kind of round of compare and contrast.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil

has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was

to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a

practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep

on sinning because he has been born of God. Right, So we see

sinning is of the devil. The foundation of sin, the one who brought

sin into this world. If you are a one who is marked by practicing

sin, you're actually aligned with the devil. See it's clear, there's no

gray area, and I'm someone who likes to be found in that gray area

when it comes to a little bit of grace. And there's grace in Christ,

but there's sin, and there's righteousness, there's trusting God or there's not.

There's walking in his ways or there not. Where we can experience the

grace is his work on the cross and the act of continual repentance in him.

That's where the grace is found. Sinning is of the devil, but

Jesus appeared to destroy the devil. And we go back to our change in

association. For no one born of God makes a practice of sinning because God

seedes abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born

of God. So as a believer, we have God seed in us and

his power to walk in righteousness through him. So we are marked by a

life of striving for righteousness, of continually repentanting, of holy living. That's

the difference between being born of God and not. There's a clear incompatibility between

sin and the work of Christ. And this is part of the reason for

this letter. He John is coming out with this firm fathily reminder and exhortation.

Remain abide, Remain in Christ, don't be deceived, live a life

of joy, and have confidence and assurance in His in your salvation by abiding

in Him and walking in His ways. And this plays out differently for many.

Right some may see a drastic change of sanctification as they come to know

Christ, and it's transformative, while others who come to know Christ, it's

more of a kind of slow work towards sanctification and purification. And both of

them are right. God is working in both individuals. It's the trajectory,

it's where the heart is trusting in. And as I look at the difference

between sin and righteousness, I realized that I don't place enough emphasis of sin

in my own life. And as I came up with this illustration, I

realized how old I am because I picked a movie that was made in nineteen

eighty four. Have you have ever seen Gremlins? You've got this kid gets

this cute cuddly pet of Magua, and he's like and there's some clear rules.

Right. You can't get it wet, you can't get no sunlight,

you can't feed it after midnight, and the ramifications are pretty significant if you

do those things right. And that's kind of like sin. Right, So

he gets wet, and some small little balls, you know, the throat,

you know, come out of him, and they look good until they

try and bite you. Right, and you feed him after dark, and

it starts out cute and cuddly until they're these reptiles that are bent on destruction.

And at first it looks great until you're caught into it and you can't

get out of it. And that is how sin is in our own lives.

It looks enticing and nice to begin with until it grabs your life with

the desire to wreck it. But we have hope in Christ that he has

defeated that sin. But we need to be diligent and aware in our own

lives of the difference between righteousness and sin and the impact of goals, because

actions matter. See if we look at verse ten, by this is evident

who are the children of God? And who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one

who does not love his brother. He's saying that our lives are evidenced by

our actions. If you are of God, you will act in righteousness.

If you are not of God, you will not act in righteousness. If

you are of God, you will practice love. If you are not of

God, you will not practice love. And was really important to those Paul

are John was was talking to because those who were leaving the church and having

errors in the foundation of the Gospel were not loving one another. That's what

they were known for, was how they didn't love. G Our lives should

have play display the evidence of love, of practicing and righteousness. I've reminded

of this in my own life as I was studying this passage and First John

in general, is as I was reflecting on some of the relationships in my

life and especially the ones that need work, and I was in kind of

how my own actions needed to be more loving. And there were some things

that I was thinking through of, like man, should I should I do

this? Should I take this out? Which is kind of extreme, over

the top, not ordinary. And the more I thought about it, the

more I realized that the first step of walking in righteousness and walking in love

was not this this thing that would be kind of more monumental, but instead

it was a phone call, It was a text that that was that little

step was acting in love, that little step was walking in righteousness. Is

there a relationship in your life that you need to take the step and walking

in love even if the expectation is not reciprocal. It's easy to take that

step in love when you're expecting that back, but when you don't know what

that response is going to be. Are you willing to take that step,

grab that lunch? Are you practicing diligence in your work or are you prone

to more of a laziness like things? Are you know, kind of going

okay this week, I'm just going to kind of coast. I'm just gonna

let it hand. You know, I can take three weeks on this project

when you can probably get it done in a week. I'm going to actually

work as unto the Lord instead of just trying to get by. You need

patience with a child or your spouse, and maybe you even need to step

out and say, hey, I was not right and how I treated you

that's unacceptable, That's not how Christ wants me to live with you and I'm

stepping out in humility and faithfulness to practice righteousness because that's what God tells me

that I should be doing. Do you have that in your life right now?

A situation where you need to step out and practice righteousness? For John

three point sixteen says this. By this, we know love that He laid

down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for

others. Are you practicing love in your small group by laying your life down

for others and sacrificial love? Maybe that's I don't know, getting up at

six am and meeting with the guy. Maybe that's accepting a phone call that

you don't really want to take. Or are you more focused on the things

that are going on in your heart, in your life, in your world

than sacrificing for someone else. See, the Walk of Christ wants us to

look to others and hold them higher than ourselves. Doesn't mean that your problem

or your situation isn't important. It is, and it's important to God,

but so are those around you. See. John wants you to be confident

and to experience the joy of salvation. He wants you to know to be

confident before him that when he comes you can rest in His assurance. And

the way you do that is by walking in righteousness, by abiding, by

resting in Him and his promises. Are you ready to do that? Are

you doing that today? Is there something this week, next week, this

month that you need to be looking to practicing? What is it? What

do you need to step out and practice in righteousness? So I invite the

band to come up. See last week we talked about assurance through Christ.

This week we're talking about assurance of being in Christ. And can you if

you're sitting here this morning wondering He's there for you repentance? Is there for

you right now? He wants you, He loves you, He wants you

to be confident that you are his. So are you ready to abide in

Him, to rest in Him, to hope in his promises, to practice

righteousness in the ordinary