What are you putting into practice?
1 John 2:29
A young man and his wife stopped by his parents house for a visit. His mother noticed that something was bothering her daughter-in-law but she didn’t want to meddle. She couldn’t imagine what could possibly be wrong, after all her son had recently graduated from seminary and gotten his first church. Well as they were leaving she head her daughter-in-law say “All right, we can go by the church and you can practice baptizing me just one more time. But remember this—when you have your first funeral, you are not going to practice burying me!”
You are what you eat? Remember that? Well if it’s true then there’s a whole lot of banana
pudding’s around here. Amen
May-be we can take that saying a step further. You are what you do.
Mike’s a truck driver, Roger’s a builder, because that’s what they do.
The bible lays it on the line. In fact the bible draws a line.
There Are Only Two sides. This isn’t a case of the right way, wrong way and my way.
I. The Righteous 1John 2:29
Four ministers were discussing the pros and cons of various Bible translations and paraphrases. Eventually each stated which version, in his opinion, was the best. The first minister said he used the King James because the Old English style is beautiful and produces the most reverent picture of the Holy Scriptures. The second said he preferred the New American Standard Bible because he felt it comes nearer to the original Greek and Hebrew texts. The third minister said his favorite was the paraphrased Living Bible because his congregation was young, and it related to them in a practical way. All three men waited while the fourth minister sat silently. Finally he said, “I guess when it comes to translations and paraphrased editions of the Bible, I like my Dad’s translation best. He put the Word of God into practice every day. It was the most convincing translation I’ve ever seen.”
1 John 2: 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as
he walked.
That’s what we should do. That’s what we should put into practice. Righteousness
7. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old
commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old
commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
We all know the right way. We all know right from wrong. I don’t believe that when we
get to heaven we’ll be able to look at God and say, well no one told me
that I shouldn’t have done that.
21. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but
because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
II. The Unrighteous let’s flip 1 John 2:29 over. Righteous means you his, so unrighteous
must mean you’re not his, and remember there are only two sides.
Unrighteous = satan.
1 John 2:15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world.
1 John 3: 4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for
sin is the transgression of the law. 5. And ye know that he
was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
6. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever
sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7. Little
children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8. He that committeth
sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil. 9. Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him:
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10. In this the
children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he
that loveth not his brother.
Conclusion: you can’t stay in the middle. 24.-25 with God there is no middle ground
Rev 3:14 Laodiceans were lukewarm. God wanted to spit them out.
note. All ill. are from Sermon Central
