Purity in the Christian’s Life
1st John 2:28 – 3:3
Jeff Hughes
I. Introduction
a. Turn with me in your Bibles to 1st John, Chapter 2, and verse 28.
b. Tonight we are going to look at five verses in the Book of First John, that shed some light as to how important purity is in our walk with Christ. But, if you remember last time we were together we looked at verses 18 through 27 in chapter 2. In these verses, John tells us about how to avoid the dangers of false religion. He goes on to tell us about the anointing of the Holy Spirit given to all believers, to help us discern truth, and finally John briefly touches on how we can remain free from false religion, by abiding in Christ.
c. Tonight’s study continues that same line of thinking, we are going to again look at abiding in Christ, and how we can continue in abiding in Christ, by remaining pure in or walk. Follow along with me starting at verse 28.
d. 28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
e. Clearly, God’s Word tells us to keep ourselves pure. One thing that I found interesting while preparing this message was that
II. Illustration
a. In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it. Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life.
b. We serve a thrice-Holy God. As Pastor Ron has noted several times in our study of Revelation, this is the only attribute mentioned three times in a row about the Lord. The Lord hates sin we see this in Proverbs 15:9 - The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But He loves him who follows righteousness. Again we see in Hebrews 12:14 - Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. We are going to examine purity in depth tonight in these 5 verses. I pray that each one of us would get a new perspective on purity, and how to live it out in our lives. Let’s find out what God’s Word has for us tonight.
III. Study
a. The Importance of Abiding in Christ – 2:28 -29
i. 28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming
ii. We see John again addressing his readers as little children, as we saw earlier. This is an affectionate address of his audience, and not a description of them spiritually. In fact, the Living Bible translates this phrase dear children. John dearly loved his readers just as we should love each other in the body of Christ.
iii. John is urging us to abide in Christ because not only will it give us confidence in our faith in Him, but also that we might not be ashamed when He comes. We saw last time that John told us in verse 18, that this was the last hour at the time he was writing this. How much more so are these scriptures true for us today, with all this Bible prophecy come true, and as I said last time we met, if John was living in the last hour, we must be living in the last minutes or seconds.
iv. Another way to put it is that if we abide in Him, we don’t have to be afraid at Christ’s coming. Many people are afraid of Christ’s coming. I have to admit, I’ve been a little nervous about it especially when I do boneheaded things, but, as we grow closer and closer to the Lord, as we abide in Him, we can have comfort and assurance at His coming, not fear.
v. John gives us a clue, an identifier, of those who abide in Him in the next verse.
vi. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
vii. Here we see that clue, that identifier, it is practicing righteousness. Abiding in Jesus means that we will practice righteousness in our lives, because we are born of Him - being born again has changed our lives from a disposition to sin to a disposition to righteousness.
viii. However, don’t get confused here. Don’t confuse good deeds with righteousness. There is a difference. Many people who don’t believe in Christ at all can do good deeds. Buddhists, Mormons, JW’s, and atheists can do a good turn to others. But righteousness means right standing before God. You cannot have right standing before God without Christ. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that unless we are saved, all our good deeds are filthy rags before God. It is only through faith in Christ, and His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross that we can obtain right standing. Our filthy rags become bleached white linen under the blood of Jesus. That transformation from sinner to saint is the profound mystery of scripture that Paul talks about in his letters. So, why did Jesus make that sacrifice for us? I’m glad you asked! Your answer is in verse 1 of the next chapter.
b. How we can Abide in Christ– 3:1
i. 1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
ii. Jesus paid the price for you and I because of His great love!
iii. Now the word behold there in the original language doesn’t just mean – Hey! Listen Up! It means to perceive, and to get knowledge concerning this, to study it intently. Also, it is in a commandment form. This is something very important John wants us to catch here. It profits us as believers to take time and study just how great God’s love is for us. God’s love for us is truly unique. It is not something that we as human beings can comprehend.
iv. His love for us is the vehicle by which we can abide in Christ. His love for us is the basis of our salvation and our abiding. It was His love for us that allowed Himself to be born in a manger in Bethlehem. It was because of His love for us that He allowed Himself to be beaten beyond recognition by the Roman soldiers. It was because of His love for us that He stayed on that cross. It was because of His love for us that He took the sins of the world. It was because of His love for us that He rose again on the third day.
v. I want to draw your attention to that little word therefore. In scripture, when we reach one of these, we need to stop and ask, “What’s it there for?”
vi. It is saying, “in light of”. So, in light of God’s wondrous love for us, the world does not know us (those who are in Christ).
vii. It is little wonder that, if we have a hard time understanding His love for us, how much less the world will understand our love and devotion toward Him, because, as we see in this verse, the world did not know Him. They have no idea about His love for them, and why He died for them, for the most part. That’s why we, who are His ambassadors on Earth, need to show the world God’s love. But, several times in scripture, we see that if we are in Christ, we are not of the world.
viii. I like what Warren Wiersbe says about this verse. He says that only a person who knows God through Christ can fully appreciate what it means to be called a child of God.
ix. But, in light of us not being of the world, I’ve heard many times about the separation of church and state, but I think sometimes the church needs a lesson on the separation of church and world. That’s what we are going to do right now.
c. The Importance of Purity – 3:2-3
i. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
ii. We see here John tells us we are children of God. God’s Word tells us we become children through salvation. Now, as we covered earlier, it is by only God’s love and grace that we have salvation available to us.
iii. If you read verse 2 carefully, you’ll notice that John is telling us what we will be like when Jesus returns for us – like Him. Verse 1 tells us what we are – children of God. Verse 2 tells us what we will be – like Christ.
iv. We read in Phillipians chapter 3 verse 20 and 21 that our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
v. We will be like Him when He returns, we will have new glorified bodies.
vi. Stacie’s great aunt was a dear woman that truly loved the Lord who passed away very early last Saturday after long battle with heart disease. We went to her homegoing service Tuesday. When Stacie got the call from her Dad Saturday, She told her Dad “praise the Lord!” He didn’t quite know what to say… I remember her waking me up, and that was my first reaction, too. We were both happy that she was in a better place with the Lord, and not here on earth suffering any longer.
vii. John does not stop there, though. Where verse 2 tells us what we will be, verse three tells us what we should be. We should keep our lives clean. Why? – Because He wants us to live with Him one day. We have been given the awesome gift of salvation. We should desire to keep our lives free from sin because we love Him. An unsaved person sins against the law. As a child of God, we sin against His love.
viii. Several times in scripture we are told to have the “fear of the Lord”. This does not mean that we should live our lives in an atmosphere of terror toward God. What’s loving about that? We are told in 2nd Timothy 1:7 that “God has not given us a spirit of fear”. But, we are to have a healthy reverence of God and a respect for Him, because we love Him. If you respect someone, you generally take their advice, and listen to their instructions, right? So, why don’t we do that with God?!? I would submit to you that we should even moreso. We should do it not only because of our love for Him, but to show that we are preparing for His return.
ix. The most important question is- are you prepared for His return? The Lord tells us a parable in Matthew chapter 25 about being ready for His return that I thought would be a fitting way to draw this message to a close.
IV. Conclusion
a. The Lord said, 1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight a cry was heard: ’Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ’Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ’No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ’Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ’Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
b. Would to God that each of us are ready, living pure lives before God.
