you Yeah. Well, it's good to have you all with us today. I want to start before the choir does their opener and just ask you for a word of prayer. We've had Aunt May, is what the Bensons refer to, May Tolan, who has been visiting with us. And she fell a couple of weeks ago. They started doing some research and they did some scans and they found out that a couple of years ago she had had a hip replaced and in the fall broke a couple of pieces there around the ball. So they're gonna go in sometime today and put some pins in and she celebrates her 95th birthday today. So it's a You know, those times always make me more apprehensive. It's something when a younger person does it, but when you're 95, going under and all those kind of things, I just wanted to start with a word of prayer for her today and have you join my heart as we call out to the Lord on her behalf, okay? Lord, we love you and we thank you for your great love for us. What a wonderful love it is. And we pray for Aunt May today, Lord, Ask that you guide the doctors and give them wisdom. And Lord, you would protect her. And as they would do the surgery, that everything would go well and smooth and she'd be able to go through with no problems and heal up well. We pray for Ellie Chin also in the same hospital. And Lord, we pray that you would touch her body and help the healing that needs to be done there on her behalf. Let's lift these ladies up before you, and we ask, dear God, that your will be done in our lives, and that you would help them to heal up, and Lord, you'd be glorified through it. Thank you for the opportunity to call upon you with our needs. You love us so much, we can turn to you and pour our hearts out before you. And we know that you hear and answer our prayers according to your will. And so we submit these unto you. We ask for your will to be done, be of the service to follow today. Might it bring honor and glory to you. We love you. We ask these in your name. Amen. When thousands of voices are swelling in the sun, the streams of Ohio, holding their crowns in their hands. Oh, young and born there, joining us all, worthy, worthy, Are you looking forward to joining that song? Well, then you should love this verse because Romans 5 8 says but God commended his love toward us And that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And because of that we get to join in that song someday brother Beavers. Would you open us in a word of prayer, please? Yeah, good. Please stand. We'll sing him number 2 27 saved. Joy and shame, joy and shame, my sins are all parted, my guilt is all gone. Joy and shame, joy and shame, I'm sinning, I'm in love. The angels rejoicing, he falls in his love. The child of the Father, for ever the Son, Saved by the blood of the new-born Son. Say, I say, say, I say, I sing from heart and mind here, I can see by the bottom of Jerusalem. I can see by the bottom of Jerusalem. ♪ Of the gifts of my God ♪ ♪ Glory I sing, glory I sing ♪ ♪ I sing from the heart of my King who is above ♪ ♪ Glory I sing, glory I sing ♪ ♪ I sing from the heart of the gifts of my God ♪ ♪ By the blood of the Crucified One ♪ ♪ All hail to the Father ♪ ♪ All hail to the Son ♪ ♪ All hail to the Spirit of Great Redeemer ♪ ♪ We sing by the blood of the Crucified One ♪ Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Who needs slavery to sin Content to live apart from God Unaware of grace and unaware of truth Can but find to labor on the side But a miracle occurred The Son of God became a man The blood that stained His cross Bought us peace with God And fulfilled the Father's loving plan My sin has been nailed to the cross of my Savior. Where Satan has no power, for God has displayed his undeserved favor. He's taken my sin and he has nailed it to the cross. Satan's kingdom has been crushed And we've been rescued from its chains Holy to the Lord, we're blameless in His sight Standing in His presence without stand And my sin has been nailed to the cross of my Savior. Where Satan has no power, for God has displayed His undeserved favor, He has taken my sin. He has nailed it to the cross Even through the suffering and shame Christ for all my sins alone Dying in my place He completed grace And my sin has been nailed to the cross of my Savior, where Satan has no power. For God has displayed his heart into a favor. He's taken my sin. And he has nailed it to the cross. My sin has been nailed. To the cross of my Savior, where Satan has no power. For God has displayed His undisputed favor. He has taken my sin. He has taken my sin. He has taken my sin. And He has nailed it to the cross. And healed it to the cross. ♪ O'er earth and sky ♪ ♪ As the bird lands rest ♪ ♪ And the devils distressed ♪ ♪ And the wicked weary and poor ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, he cares ♪ When the days are breaking from love, find freely, I know, my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when my way is lost? When the days are wearying and the night is dying, Does Jesus care? When a crying man may resist? I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care? Then I say goodbye to the dearest on earth to me, and my sad heart These are main standards we take our offering this morning. Brother Richard, would you pray for us, please? Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Yeah. Oh Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to Thee. For the life You gave that Calvary broke the bonds of sin for me. These rocks and stones that lie about shall not cry out for me. Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to Thee. I'll sing blessed rock of ages. There is power in the blood of the Lamb. Oh, victory in Jesus. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. He's the rock of my salvation. I'm going home and it won't be long. I'll praise your name forever in the lyrics of these songs. Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to Thee For the life You gave at Calvary Broke the bonds of sin for me These rocks and stones that lie about Shall not pry out for me Yes, O Lord Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to Thee Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to thee. For the life you gave at Calvary broke the bonds of sin for me. These rocks and stones that lie about shall not cry out for me. For Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to thee. Oh, Lord. Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to Thee For the life You gave at Calvary Broke the bonds of sin for me These rocks and stones that lie about Shall not cry out for me Yes, O Lord, Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to Thee. Yes, O Lord, Lord, I'll sing these songs of praise to Thee. Amen. Amen. Stand once again. We'll sing hymn number five, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. When I survey the wondrous clouds, the great, the great, the ♪ I count your loss ♪ ♪ And pour contempt on all my pride ♪ ♪ Forfeit ignore that I should call you mine ♪ I sacrifice him to his blood. Sleep from his head, his head's deceit. and sorrow me. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It's an amazing verse and perhaps the most famous verse of all time. But I fear sometimes we quote it without really thinking about what it means or what's being said. This verse says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But what all does that entail? God gave us his only son to come to this world knowing that he would be rejected by his own people, ridiculed by his peers. Knowing that under the weight and gravity of taking all the sins of the world, Jesus would sweat drops of blood and ask him to remove the cup from him. Knowing that he would be betrayed by one of his own followers and denied three times by another. Knowing he would be falsely accused of being a heretic and condemned to death. Knowing that they would beat him and place 33 stripes upon his back, ripping away chunks of flesh as the glass, bone, and metal wrapped around him again and again. Knowing that they would place a crown of thorns on his head and a cross on his back to carry to the very place where they would crucify him. Knowing that they would lay him on that cross, drive the nails into his hands and his feet, then lift up the cross and drop it into a hole. knowing that while on that cross, he would have to push against the nail in his feet to lift himself up just enough to get a breath of air. And he did that so that he could say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Have you ever struggled with how to say thank you for that? This song is called Gratitude. All my words fall short I've got nothing new How could I express All my gratitude I could sing these songs As I often do But every song must end, and you never do. So I'll throw up my hands and praise you again and again, because all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know it's not much But I've nothing else fit for a king Except for a heart singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah I've got one response. I've got just one move. With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you. And I'll throw up my hands and praise you again and again. All that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know it's not much. I've nothing else fit for a king, except for a heart singing hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So come on my soul. Oh don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. oh come on my soul oh don't you get shy on me lift up your song cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs get up and praise the lord come on my soul oh don't you get shy on me lift up your song because you've got a lion inside of those lungs get up and praise the lord So I'll throw up my hands and praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is a hallelujah. Hallelujah And I know it's not much But I've nothing else fit for a king Except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah I told Chuck this morning not to make me cry. I didn't think Stephen would be the one to do it. One of my best friends used to be a drug addict. And I've listened to his story a million times it seems like. I came to his senses in the middle of a drug house trying to find more dope to get high. And he found a Bible instead. And I think, as I'm sitting here today, no, I wasn't down that low, but I was low enough. I'm thankful I didn't have to go that low. No, God's grace still reached me where I was, and by God's grace, I didn't have to go that low. But I was low enough. You've accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. I'm sure you would admit, I was low enough. Glad I didn't have to go that low. I went low enough. And he does deserve our praise. And he does deserve to be honored. Thank you, Stephen. All right, so today is Brother Chuck and Miss Crystal's last day. And it's been a whirlwind around here the last couple of months. Him giving his heart to God to do whatever, and then California opening up in December, they went to California. Christmas day, they got the call to become pastor, and he immediately accepted. And we went to Heartland, they raised some money, and we've given them money, and now the house is pretty much empty except for a pods container that sits outside with all their stuff. Please don't set it on fire. All their stuff would be gone, but all their earthly goods are in that little pod container down there, and they'll pick that up on Monday. It'll head to California, and they're gonna start making the trek that way. And I was this morning talking with my wife on the way here, and I said, I don't know how we would have made it through COVID without Brother Chuck and Brother Richard. Brother Richard came in November of 2019, and Brother Chuck and Miss Crystal got here, what, the 3rd? 3rd of January. And we didn't know what was gonna happen that year. But when 2020 and COVID hit, and for six weeks we didn't have church, I was so thankful to have these young men and their wives around and so we would produce we stepped up I told the guys I said I want to step up I want to every day have the opportunity for our people to be touched by church and so we started daily devotionals Monday through Friday we did we called them thankful Friday on Monday I'm still gonna be thankful for Friday can't wait for Friday to get here And so we did Thankful Friday for over a year, and I did the first couple of months of those myself, and I thought, this is crazy, I got two other guys that can do it too, so they really lightened the load. And we did some projects around the church that need to be done. But one of the things I look back on with great joy, and I hope to always remember it, we would come in here on Sunday mornings, our three couples, And we would have church. And we would have a special. We'd have some song leading. We'd have a special get up and preach to them because they really needed it. And then we would shut the all the cameras and everything off. And then we would eat together. Good old fellowship. Fellowship's so important in our Christian lives. Those are precious memories that I hope to hold on to the rest of my life. Just the joy of being able to work with these guys and their wives and all that God has done for us. And I'm excited about the Marinos going to California. I'm excited about what God is gonna do with them. And I'm excited in March, they're gonna be back for our missions conference. And they better bring pictures and lots of stories, right? Because we want to hear what God's doing with them. Brother Chuck, you come and preach. We love you very much. I tried this morning to build a wall so that I wouldn't cry all day long. I tried to build a wall in my heart, but that's probably not going to work. But I've loved every opportunity I've had to be here and to get to know all of you. And to be able to teach the teens week after week, and to have the opportunities to preach on Sunday nights, and to be part of the choir over there, thank you. And I love all of you so much. Anyways, I could be up here all day just gushing about it. But I'm so grateful for this church and for the growth that has happened in my family and in my life because of the graciousness of pastor and taking time to teach me sometimes when I didn't want to be taught, sometimes when I didn't think I deserved it, but I did. And the growth that's happened because of that. And so I just thank you so much. for all of you, for your love for our family, taking us in when you didn't even know us, and it's so appreciative. 1 John, chapter number two, if you would, please. I think either the end of last week or the beginning of this this morning and this afternoon. And even in my last week, in my flesh, I was like, pastor, what are you doing? I'm trying to pack up my life here. And so I just, but I said yes, obviously. And I just started considering what God, what do you want me to preach on my last day here? And I couldn't get away from actually two messages that I preached from 1 John when I first came. And we preached over, over Facebook Live, and I was trying to teach the teenagers about unity over the internet while they were all in their houses by themselves. But the chapter of 1 John, which we're going to start at the end of chapter 2 and go into chapter 3, just fits so well with much of what has already been said today. So 1 John chapter 2 and verse number 28 is where we'll start. And we'll read and think about through verse 10 this morning, and then this afternoon we'll come back at verse 11 and finish the rest of chapter three this afternoon. 1 John chapter two and verse 28 says, now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth 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. 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. In this, the children of God are manifest in the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. This morning, we're going to consider this idea. Beloved, be righteous. Beloved, be righteous. Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. And Father, I just ask you to help me as I preach. Lord, I want to get this across. And Lord, I just ask you to help speak to our hearts, please. And Lord, we love you and are so grateful for the privilege to be a son of God. And we love you and ask this in your name. Amen. When I was in college, it was my last year of college, so I'd been there for about three and a half years, almost four years, and during my last year of college, we had a guest preacher come, and we'd have chapel on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and so this guest preacher came in, I think on a Tuesday, and he preached chapel on Tuesday, and then he stayed and preached at Southwest Baptist Church in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, where most of the students went, so we heard two messages from him. one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. And both of the messages that he preached were about holiness, about being righteous. And they were great messages and they stuck with me. And I remember going back to the school after church that night, after Wednesday night service, and I remember a bunch of my classmates and even just some of my dorm mates were kind of sitting around there all complaining. that they had had to endure two messages in one week about holiness. And I was pretty flabbergasted because I was trying to recall, and as I was thinking back over the past four years, I could only recall that this was the only two times that I had heard direct messages about holiness. And yet my classmates and my dorm mates had felt that their time was wasted because two messages in a row were about that. And they were so put off by the fact that they had to hear about holy living, about righteousness, about being righteous people as God's people. And so this morning as we consider this subject of righteousness or holiness, I do want us to be careful not to be put off by the idea that God requires something of us. that He requires something of our life. He gives salvation freely, and we'll touch on that a little bit in the message. He gives salvation freely, and we can accept it or we can reject it, but those who have accepted it, our acceptance of it is not based on what we do, but once we have accepted it, He does require things of us. He does require us to live a holy life, and so I want us to understand this, that this righteousness, though, is not based on gaining His acceptance or gaining His favor, but because we have His acceptance and favor, we ought to live a holy life. We ought to live a righteous life because of His love for us, because of His righteousness, because of His acceptance for us. That's why we do those things. And so a Christian's life of righteousness flows from a loving relationship with the Father. That's what it flows from. It doesn't flow from hoping to gain acceptance or hoping to gain a loving relationship with the Father. But because we already have that, a Christian's life ought to reflect the holiness of the one that we follow. Verse number 28 that we read here in 1 John 2, we find that devoted Christians are excited about Christ's coming. It's an excitement that he's coming back and we hear a preaching about this often So I won't belabor the fact but verse number 20 it says this and now little children abide in him That we then when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming As you talk to other believers you can kind of you can not all the time but you can kind of guess how their relationship with God is based on how excited they are about his coming back and You can just about guess it. Because people who are ashamed at His coming, and who do not have confidence in His coming, are usually not as close to God as they ought to be. Because it says here, we have this promise, that those who abide in Him will have confidence at His coming. The instruction to abide in Christ, it means a continual dwelling. It means to not be moved away on any consideration. That's what it means to abide in Christ. And we have certainly some more instruction, we won't take time to go back to it, but John wrote about abiding in Christ back in his gospel in chapter number 15. In John 15, abide in me and I in you, as the vine and the branch abide one with another, right? And so you recall that Jesus taught his disciples that, and it means to not be moved away on any consideration, because certainly it's easy to be moved away with the things of life, isn't it? It's easy to be, as we are bombarded from every direction, from many different ways, and many different things, and many different people, it's easy to get bombarded, and it's easy to become unstable in your Christian life, and it's easy to become moved away with different considerations. But we have this instruction that as His disciples, as people who are in fellowship one with another, that's the theme of 1 John, as people in fellowship one with another, we ought to abide in Him. to have a confidence and a stability in our relationship with Jesus Christ. And to look forward to Christ's coming. To look forward to it. Therefore, the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4. As we abide in Him, As we try to follow God, we will have confidence at His coming. Kids, or maybe parents as well, you remember when you were a kid and your parents were gone for some time and they gave you a list of stuff to do while they were gone? They said, this list better be done when I get home, right? The kids who didn't do that list were ashamed that they're coming, right? Maybe you heard the car coming up the gravel driveway, and so you start to rush around, and you try to throw the trash in the dumpster, and you try to make your bed real quick, and push all your toys underneath of your bed so that you can clean your room, right? I'm stepping on some toes, I think, here. But those kids are ashamed that their parent's coming, right? because they knew they didn't do what they were supposed to do. And so a righteous life is based on a loving relationship with the Father, and we have confidence at His coming when we abide in Him. And so a Christian's life of righteousness flows from a relationship with the Father. And all righteousness is based on Christ's nature, not our own nature. Any righteousness that we have is not even based on what we do. It's based on Him. It's based on our mirroring of Him, being a follower of Christ. The word follower means to be an imitator, to mimic, to do the things that the Father does in your life. Verse 29, if you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him. So we find that our righteousness is based on the righteousness that God imputes to us, that God gives to us, that God's righteousness flows through us. We know that God is righteous, don't we? I hope we do. That's part of His nature. It's part of who He is, is righteous. One person said this, he is the author of everlasting righteousness. I like that. That God is the author of everlasting righteousness. For as long as God has existed, which has been forever, He has been righteous. He has been without sin. He has been holy for as long as He has existed. And He is not created. So He's been in existence for eternity. He's always been righteous. And to have that righteousness given to us is a great privilege and dignity to be born of Him. It is a great privilege to witness with the righteousness that God gives to us. It's a privilege and a dignity to have the righteousness of God in us. Because we have to understand this, that a child of God acts like a child of God. That's deep stuff. A child of God should act like a child of God. 1 Corinthians 6 says this, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed. and you are justified and you are sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our Lord. And so we understand this, that a child of God had a different life before he has now. It's a different life before salvation than the life that is after salvation. Ephesians chapter 2 talks about this, that ye were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, among whom also ye all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together. There's a difference. Before we were saved, we were dead in trespasses and sins, and we fulfilled the lusts of our flesh and of our mind, and we were the children of wrath, even as others, but now that we are saved, we are children of the High King, and we have righteousness given to us, and we are alive. We are alive and not dead unto sins. And because we are alive now, we have no relation to the world because of our relation to God. Our relationship with the world was severed the moment that we were saved. And how often do we try to fix that relationship instead of going after the relationship that was given to us? But our relationship with the world was cut off. Look at verse number one of chapter three. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God and the daughters of God. That is a relationship. A son or a daughter. Right? That is a relationship. But notice, there's one relationship here that is given to us. We should be called the sons of God. But there's another relationship that is taken away. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. It is not that it knows us not and we are by ourselves and we don't have any good company. But it knows us not because it knew Him not. Right? John 1. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. It knew Him not. And so as the world rejects us and as that relationship with the world is cut off, we're in good company. We're in good company because the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was rejected from the world. And so we are in good company. God loves us with a love that is unimaginable. Unimaginable. A lengthy quote, if you'll stick with me, please. in kind, the most tender and the most ennobling in adopting us into his family and in permitting us to address him as our father. In degree, it is the most exalted love, since there is no higher love that can be shown than in adopting a poor and friendless orphan and giving him a parent and a home. Even God could bestow upon us no more valuable token of affection than that we should be adopted into His family and permitted to regard Him as our Father. When we remember how insignificant we are as creatures, how ungrateful and rebellious and vile we have been as sinners, we may well be amazed at the love which would adopt us into the holy family of God, so that we may be regarded and treated as the children of the Most High. A prince could manifest no higher love for a wandering, ragged, vicious orphan boy found in the streets than by adopting him into his own family and admitting him to the same privileges and honors as his own sons. And yet, this would be a trifle compared to the honor which God has bestowed on us. There's no greater love on this earth than that a high king would go into the streets of his kingdom and would adopt a poor, orphaned, lonely, vicious, rebellious boy, rebellious child, and yet it's a trifle compared to what God did for us. A trifle. We have had neither claim nor merit that we should be called the sons of God who were before children of the wicked one, animal, earthly, and devilish. We have been given an unimaginable love. It's unimaginable. And his work that he does in our life as a son of God continues on till we get to heaven. He's not done working on us. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And so God will do an ultimate good work when we get to heaven. As Christians, we're sanctified, and we won't go into all of this, but as Christians, we're sanctified, and our sanctification has three aspects to it. One is that we are positionally sanctified when we get saved. When we get saved, we are positionally set apart. That we were in sin, but now we are not in sin. We are positionally sanctified. And then as we live on this earth and as we try to grow, as we try to follow what Jesus Christ wants for us, as we try to live according to the gospel, we are progressively sanctified. That's the second part. And then when we finally get to heaven, we will be perfected and we will have perfecting sanctification. And that's what verse number two is talking about here. Verse number two. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know. that when we shall appear, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We will be like Him. We won't have to deal with sin anymore. We won't have to deal with the aches and pains. Right? I heard a lot of old people say amen just now. I'm getting there too, right? I'm getting there. We won't have aches and pains, right? We won't have aches and pains. We won't have the same heartaches, right? We won't have the same struggles as we have in our earthly body. The temptations won't be there anymore when we're in heaven. The difficulties and the loss won't be there anymore. When He shall appear, we shall be like Him. And then how will we know how He's like? Because we shall see Him as He is. Face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face, how can it be? To finally see our Lord, who we have waited for, who we struggled for, who we've tried to live for, and one day we'll finally see Him. See the nail scars in His hand. See the stripes on His back. See the things, see the effects of mankind. See the effects of Him taking on the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of men. We shall finally see Him and we'll be like Him. We will be like Him. I better hurry. Verse number three. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Based on our relationship to God, we should strive for righteousness. Because of our relationship, because we are his son and daughter. Because we are His sons and daughters, we ought to strive to be like Him. Maybe you recall that there's been specific things about your dad. Do you think, man, I just wish I could be like my dad? I don't even know what I'm talking about. My dad was a hard worker, if nothing else. He was a hard worker, and I wish I could be like that. I wish I could be a hard worker like my dad. Sometimes it was too hard, and I understand that, but I knew that my dad was a hardworking person, and he loved his family, and he loved me, right? Maybe there's things like that for your family as you think about your dad. But as we think about our relationship with God, we should strive for righteousness. We should strive for righteousness. Because we have the hope of perfecting sanctification, we should put in the effort for the progressive aspect of sanctification. Because one day we will be like Him up there, we should try to be like Him down here. Because we will one day be perfect, we should try to progress while we can. And so, the second aspect of it, and we'll go a little bit quicker here. In verses four through 10, we see this, that a life of righteousness should be a priority of the Christian. Verse number four, we find that all sin is a violation of the law of God. Sometimes we get, I think sometimes we get messed up because we think, well, that sin's not too bad, right? That sin's not too bad. Well, at least I didn't sin this way, right? But all sin is a violation of God's commandment. All sin is. It doesn't matter from man's point of view how bad or good we think it is. It is a violation of God's holy law. And so we must understand that verse number five, we find this, that the very reason of Christ coming to earth was to save us from those sins. The very reason why He came. If we're not careful, we get caught up in the season of Christmas, and we get caught up in all of the trivial things about the season. But verse number 5, and you know that He was manifested to take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. The reason why He could take away our sins is because He didn't have any of His own. He was perfect. It made Him the only one that was able to take our sins from us. And He that knew no sin was made sin for us, that we which knew sin might be made righteousness of God in Him. And so the very reason of the coming of Christ the first time was to deliver us from sin. Those who are true Christians do not habitually sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he, God, is righteous. Even as God is righteous, we ought to strive for righteousness. Because those that do not strive for righteousness have not known him. Have not known him. If righteousness is not a concern of your life, I have to ask you if you really know Jesus. I understand there's struggles. There are strongholds that can be in your life, and there are difficulties, and there are temptations, and those will not get taken away until we see Him and we become like Him. Those will not be taken away, but I'm talking about this, that if there is no consideration at all in your life of righteousness, I have to ask you if you know Him. If you really know Jesus Christ, Because if you know Him, you'll be concerned about who He is and mirroring that in your life. Those who sin habitually and willfully and characteristically can't be true Christians, but are of the devil. Verse number eight. He that committeth sin, again, this is characteristically, habitually, willfully, over and over again, without any concern for righteousness. He that committeth sin is of the devil, because the devil sinneth from the beginning. Here's the there's a contrast here that those who follow Jesus Christ Follow his righteousness and those who follow the devil follow his unrighteousness That there's a contrast that those that that people who have a priority of unrighteousness are of the devil That's just the case. That's what we find in 1 John chapter number three in verse number eight. He that commits sin is of the devil. Whosoever, verse number nine, 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. Those who follow Jesus Christ have his seed in him. And this could be a couple of things. I think that it refers to the word of God. The seed is the word of God. Luke chapter number eight, verse number 11, that when we have the word of God in us, Psalm chapter 119, that I may hide thy word in my heart, thy word in my heart that I might have said against thee, right? And so as we have God's word in our heart, and as we try to know who He is, and as we try to abide in Him, we follow after righteousness as God's people. Verse number 10, we find this, that you are known by what you do. You're known by what you do. 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. Verse number 10 kind of serves as a transition verse, and we'll continue on with that this evening, talking about loving your brother and those things. But you are known by what you do. Jesus talks about this in the Sermon on the Mount, doesn't he? By your fruits you shall know them. He talks in another place in John that by this show all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one to another. And what John is getting at here in 1 John in his letter is this, that you can tell a person's priorities by their life. You can tell who they're following by the things that they do. And so this morning I want to encourage you, be righteous. Beloved, be righteous. Be holy, even as your Father which is in heaven is holy and is perfect. Be righteous. As a loved child of God, righteousness should be a priority in every single area of your life. Beloved, be righteous. Father, thank you so much for allowing us to be in your family as sons of God and as daughters of God. But Lord, help us not to take that relationship for granted, but help us to follow you with everything that we have, that we would be righteous people because you are righteousness, because you've given us righteousness. Father, we love you, and I ask that you would work in our hearts this morning, be with the time of invitation to follow, that you would help us to submit to what you have for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. As the piano begins to play, stand to your feet, please. And if you say, I've not been righteous, I've not followed what God wants for me, I'd ask this morning that you would remember that you are a son of God, but maybe you can't say that this morning. Maybe you can't say that you're a son or a daughter of God. If that's the case this morning, I'd invite you to come forward, and we'll have somebody show you from the Bible what it means to be a child of God this morning, because you can't be righteous unless you're his son or his daughter. And so as Brother Trent sings, verse number one of Have Thine Own Way, if that's you this morning, come. I am the clay. Hold me and make me after Thy will. While I am waiting, Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Search me and try me. than sorrow. Watch me just now, as in thy presence Lord, have thine own way. Wounded and weary, help me, I pray. Power, all power. ♪ Touch me and heal me ♪ ♪ Savior divine ♪ Well, it's good to be in the Lord's house. We're gonna have Brother Chuck go ahead and go to the back. I want you to go by and let him know how much you're gonna be praying for him, encouraging. We're gonna have Brother Potts come with our announcements. The Lord bless you for being here. Been a great day in the Lord's house, hasn't it? Pretty much so. Please pray for the Marinos as they start their journey out to California, traveling mercies while they're on the road. Couples retreat coming up February 16th through the 17th, or the 17th through the 18th. Please get registered online as soon as possible for that one. Ladies meeting coming up on February the 23rd. That'll be 7 p.m. here at the church. And details will follow soon on that. Missions conference, right around the corner, will be March 1st through the 5th. Be in prayer as folks are traveling in. The Parker family, family from Cambodia, and of course, the Marinos coming back to us from California. Band camp also coming up. March 24th through the 25th in Mount Vernon, Missouri. Cost is $55, and we'll need that due by March the 8th. And then we have a youth rally coming up for the teens. That'll be at Faith Baptist Church in Olathe. And that'll be on March 17th at the church at 545. Cost is $12. Cash for that. Hey lots of stuff coming up our way so. Brother Bob Reichel can you close us in prayer please. How do we? Eads. What's this?