Well, we're here to read and to hear the Word of God, hear it read and hear it preached. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the preaching of the Word and through the voice of Christ. Today we're going to look at 1 John 2, 1 and 2, and if you'll take your copy of God's Word and turn there. I want to remind you that if God Himself were to walk into this room, which He won't do physically, and He were to speak these words to you, He would not be speaking with any more or any less authority than we read them from the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. You want to hear God speak? Then read out loud. It's God speaking. The Bible is God speaking. Verses 1 and 2 of 1 John chapter 2. And it says, My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. May God add his blessing to the reading and the hearing of his perfect word. There's an old saying that blood is thicker than water. And I'm going to add to that saying that spirit is thicker than blood. And I don't know how many times I've told you that in this congregation, that because of what Jesus has done, by the uniting power of God, the unifying power of God, the Holy Spirit, He knits hearts together in a unique bond. And I personally am closer to some people in Christ than I could ever be with even a blood relative who remains outside of Christ. Well, how can this be? Well, it's because of the work of God, and it's because of Him giving us an important likeness. In Christ, we share one great Father, our Heavenly Father, Matthew 6. In Christ, we share one great desire, and that's to honor and glorify God, 1 Corinthians 10. In Christ, we share one glorious destiny, and that is heaven forever. In Christ we share one great mission, and that's the Great Commission, Matthew 28. In Christ we all share the inheritance that the Father has for Jesus, says 1 Peter 1. In Christ, you and I share one remarkable capacity as Christians. God, the Holy Spirit, dwells in us. We are His temple. Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you, says 1 Corinthians 3.16. In Christ, we share together the greatest of all privileges, the highest of all callings, and that is the calling and the privilege of worshiping the Triune God, John chapter 4. In Christ we share the highest status of any creatures in the universe, because we are loved in a special way as the image-bearers of God. He has given us His image in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and dominion over the creatures, and He loves us. in the Beloved, He loves us in His own Son whom He gave for us, 1 John chapter 4. And all these are ours because of three things, two of which I told you about last week, and I'm going to remind you of those things, and then I'm going to add a third. The first of those things, if you remember, was justification. Justification, and we defined it, justification is an act, a one-time taking a picture-like act, an aorist tense act, is an act of God's free grace, free grace, grace can't be earned or deserved, where He pardons, not most but all of our sin, and accepts us, actually says, I want you, I receive you, accepts us as righteous in His sight for one reason and one reason only, and that is for the righteousness of Christ which is imputed into our accounts received by faith alone. That's what justification is. The second thing, if you're probably already remembering it, it's sanctification. Sanctification is not an act, it's a work. It's a bunch of acts. It's a work, an ongoing work. It's a work of God's free grace. Again, grace is free, can't be earned or deserved. Whereby we are renewed or transformed in the inner man and the whole man after the image of God. And we are enabled, empowered, we are helped more and more to die to sin and live to righteousness. That's the work of God, the Holy Spirit, in our lives. He causes us to grow after we're justified. He causes us to grow. So justification is first, sanctification is second. They're not the same thing. They have their own unique places in God's work in our lives. But then there's this connector, there's a key link that connects justification and sanctification. And that key link is adoption. And what is adoption? You know, I have an adopted child. I love him. I love him like I love my other children. In fact, I can't tell any difference in them. It's really the same. I see that head shaking back there. Adoption is an act. There was a time when I didn't have him, now I do. It's an act of God's free grace. There's that word again, just like justification is an act, adoption is an act, sanctification is a work. An act of God's free grace whereby we are received into the number, or into the family. We received into the family. He was received into our family. He bears the family name. He has taken on family traits that he would not have received anywhere else in the whole world. If he had been a member of any other family, he would have different family traits, but he's part of our family. So he's got our family traits, many of them. Whereby we are received into the family and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. He has a right to anything I have. When I die and he receives my inheritance, he's going to receive an equal part of my inheritance. And does he deserve it? He's going to receive it because I chose him. Because I love him. And because I have given him that status in my family. If you're adopted, you have received that status in God's family. And the infinite inheritance that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be shared with you and is shared with you. It is yours. It is your possession. And it is as sure as anything you can ever be sure of. And behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. God has proven His love by adopting you, by calling you His son, His daughter. And if children, now catch this, in 13 words He uses this word heir three times. And if children, then heirs. What does an heir do? An heir, h-e-i-r-s, an heir inherits. An heir receives. An heir is given things. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Isn't that great? Is that not just the most wonderful truth? I think the doctrine of adoption is just about, there's no doctrine any higher. And we get privileges from this. We can talk to God, Matthew 7. We can ask God for help in things. We can ask God for things. We can expect God to truly and genuinely work on our behalf. In fact, Romans 8, 28, God works all things according to No, that's not it, is it? That's Ephesians 1.11. All things work together for good to those who are the called according to his purpose. So he's working all things together for good to those who are the called according to his purpose. And because he's our father, You could ask Kirk about this, and Christian, and Cameron, all the rest of them. You can expect discipline. Now from the Father, God the Father, you can expect perfect discipline. He's never going to be harsh. He's never going to be too harsh. He's never going to be too light. He's always going to be just right. He's never going to damage us as His children. He's only going to improve us by His discipline. And we can expect perfect information and instruction from our Heavenly Father. 2 Timothy 3.16, He's given us the Bible. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Why? That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped, thoroughly equipped, fully equipped for every good work. You see, He wants to bring us to maturity, and He does so through the Bible, so that we can take on the family traits. so that we can have proper fear of Him. We can have love for Him and love for one another. We can live in joy and we can be generous because God is always going to provide all that we need. We can live in godliness. We can be obedient. And all the other elements that he has told us about in Galatians 5, that they're one fruit that the Spirit gives to all of his family members in increasing, increasing, increasing portions. And the promise is, you're going to be complete in Christ. Now, that's big. You're going to be complete in Christ. There's another promise in Romans 8 that you're going to be conformed to the image of Christ. But you might be thinking, but I am so far from that. Well, why are you so far from that? Why? Is it because you're not attending to the means of grace the way you're supposed to? Is it because you're not reading your Bibles the way you're supposed to? Is it because you're not committed to prayer the way you're supposed to be? Is it because there's some sin in your life that's got you out of fellowship with God in some way? You know, do you live your lives expecting for God to complete you? Do you see it as an active, a conscious, active process in your life? Do you see yourself growing, growing, growing, conforming, conforming, conforming more and more to the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ? You see, that's really what sets us apart. the true Christian from the non-Christian, and that's really what fulfills the life of the Christian that's committed from the Christian who is casual. There is nothing sadder than a casual Christian, because he's got so much that's been offered him, and he's receiving so little because he will not receive the fullness of God. And all of this that we get, all of this that we have, is because we have a good father who is raising us right. And as part of being adopted into the family and justified, we're being sanctified. And because of the membership we have in this one Christian family, We are part of a family that's made up of men and women and children of every tribe and color and language and from every nation, from America, from every continent, the Finnish, even Yankees, believe it or not, even Yankees, every sort of center. We're family. We're family by adoption, and that is God's way. So it's easy for us to look at our text and to understand why the Apostle John uses the language of family when he says in verse 1, You see, just as a caretaker or an overseer of younger children may speak to children as his little children, and take authority over them as though they're his little children, then John is doing that here, because in one sense that congregation is his, and this congregation is in a sense his. You know, just as Paul called Timothy his son in the faith, John is calling us his little children. In 1st Timothy 1-2, Timothy, my true son in the faith. So, you know, Paul was not usurping God's fatherhood. He was serving God through his care for Timothy and through his work with his spiritual son Timothy. So in the language of family, Timothy was Paul's son in the faith and his brother in that same faith, in the same family, just as we are with John. So in Christ, we have family ties. that are deeper than anything of the flesh." And John here is reinforcing that. A familial affection. John is fulfilling his God-assigned role in their lives. And God has given him apostolic authority to speak to them as his little children. My little children. And then he goes on. These things I write to you. These things in this letter I write to you. Now, John didn't want to leave God's truths uncertain. Therefore, John didn't leave God's truth unwritten. We have God's truth written in the Bible, and that's why he says, I write to you, I write these things down. The man who took me in when I had no family in this town, he used to have a saying, he said, the lightest pencil is more sure than the strongest memory. I'm sure he got that from John. John understands that he writes this down, of course he wrote it on vellum and who knows, but he wrote it down so that it would be permanent, and God has protected that through the millennia. So John writes because God had John write, and he writes to them, and he writes to us. Just like you want to leave your children and you don't have a babysitter and you think, well, you know what? If I don't write down exactly what I want them to do and not do while I'm gone, then I know that sooner or later children are going to forget things and children will get together and they'll twist things and children get together and they'll argue about certain things. And well, John says, wait a minute, I'm going to put this in writing for the sake of the children and for the sake of we children today. He's given us this letter. So John wrote those truths and he did so under inspiration. With the promise from God that those truths would be preserved until after heaven and earth pass away. I just want to give you a taste of how important those few words are. I write these things. These things are written and they're going to be preserved until after heaven passes away. When is that going to be? till after earth passes away. When is that going to be? And you and I have the benefit of this truth and the use of this truth for as long as time exists. Now if you think back to the Gospel of John, you remember that John overheard Jesus praying to the Father in John 17. And in John 17, Jesus said to his father, he asked the father to sanctify them in the truth, thy word is truth. Jesus asked the Father to separate people from sin and from sinning through the Scriptures. And that's exactly what the next six words in our pericope tell us in 1 John 2, the second part of verse 1. So that you may not sin, so that you may be separated from your sin, so that you may stop sinning, so that you may avoid sin, so that you may not have to confess so much when you go to Reformation Bible Church. So John faced the problem of sin head-on. And he could do that because Jesus Christ is the remedy for the problem of sin. Christ not only defeated the penalty of our sins, but he sent God the Holy Spirit to work through the Holy Scriptures in our lives to defeat the practice of sin. He wants to give us family traits. And to give us family traits, the family traits of the Father who adopted us, we have to remember those words where Jesus says, be holy in all your conduct, not be holy in the conduct that you choose to be holy in, like it's a salad bar where you can have a little of this and a little of that, and you can avoid that, a little of that, and maybe fill up on too much of the other that's not good for you. Be holy in all your conduct. Be holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter 1, 15. Be holy in all your conduct. Be holy, for I am holy. 1 Peter 1, 16. In fact, that statement about being holy is in the Bible 38 times. Do you think God means it? Does He have to say it 39 times for it to have any meaning? No, God doesn't stutter. He means what He says the first time He says it, and even if He says it only once, it has all the authority of God behind it. This life begins with sonship. It's built through discipleship, and it continues in fellowship. See, first we're born again, then we're adopted by God, then we're indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, and we're disciplined in the ways of God. And as this happens, we walk closer and closer and closer with God. I have a warning for you at this point. And the warning is that your walk is not the basis of your salvation. Your walk is not the basis of your salvation. It is the basis of your fellowship, but it's not the basis of your salvation. Jesus' perfection The perfection of Jesus, to make sure we hear it rightly, the perfection of Jesus is imputed to your account as the only basis upon which God does not cast you and me into hell. Jesus alone. So with that in mind, let's ask some questions. Knowing that, do you love Him? Do you love Jesus? You do? Well, let's ask Jesus how Jesus would measure your love. John 14, 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. John 14, 21. He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. John 14, 23. Jesus said, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14, 24, and he who does not love me does not keep my words. So you see, a measure of love for Christ is keeping his commandments, keeping his law word. The commandments, it's almost like they're part of an equation, they're the same thing. Love and obedience, the same thing. You see, to know him is to love him. So do you keep his law word? Well, James 2.10 says this, for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of, how much? All. Guilty of one, guilty of all. You know, I could punch a little, I could take my ring and hit that glass and probably put a little crack in it, and it would still be a piece of glass, and you could still look through it to some degree, but it would still be broken, wouldn't it? The whole piece of glass is broken, even though the spot is on one place. Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles on one point, he is guilty of all. And is your love for God perfect and constant and all-encompassing? No, it is not. And here is where the good news of Jesus' perfect work covers the bad news of my sin and your sin. You see, it's not your law-keeping, it's not your love for God that saves you. Now, let me make something real clear here, and don't run out the door when I say it. You are saved by keeping the law. You are saved by good works. Jesus keeping the law and Jesus' good works is the basis upon which you are saved and not your own works. Whenever you start looking at yourself and honestly, when you look at yourself honestly and you start saying, wait a minute, I don't measure up. I didn't measure up to anything I read there in John 14. So what did I do? What's my answer? I have to look outside of myself, away from myself, for the remedy for the problem that is inside of myself. I have to look to the cross. I have to look back 2,000 years. I have to look at that event that happened when Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried, died. went to the grave, conquered death, walked out of the grave, walked among men, went to heaven and promised to come again. I have to look outside of myself to that historical event. Because, you see, the gospel happened outside of you. It benefits you, but it happened outside of you. It doesn't take place inside of you. It is objective, it is not subjective, though it has personal benefits. It's not your loving or your law-keeping for God that saves you, it is His perfect loving and law-keeping that saves you from your sin and His wrath. 1 John 2.1, if anyone sins, when anyone sins. You see, John is sweet enough to not rub our faces in our own dirt, right? If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. So, because my love and my obedience are not perfect, but his love and his obedience is perfect, what happens here? According to Revelation 12, 9, and 10, The devil, and remember we talked in our confession a while ago, we talked about God freeing me from the tyranny of the devil in question number one. The devil is accusing me before the throne of God the Father. He wants me hung. He wants me drawn and quartered. He wants me to burn forever. The devil hates me. The devil accuses me. The devil knows my sins better than I know my sins. He is the prosecuting attorney. in heaven before the throne. So what's happening? Jesus Christ is my advocate. Jesus Christ, I have sinned, and not because I love Him, but because He loves me. He steps up and He says, wait a minute, Father, don't listen to that. I have taken care of this. I declare Him to be not guilty, and you, Father, need to declare Him not guilty, because He is not guilty. His guilt has been removed through what I have done as your Son, as your perfect Son. And how did that happen? I propitiated. You, I appeased you in your anger over His sin. And yes, you should be infinitely angry over His sin, because you are infinitely holy, and that is an infinite break with you. But me being the infinite God-man, I can bridge that gap, I can bring that together. It's not a problem for me. So I have met your justice. I've applied it to this man, so throw the devil out of here and receive this man and love him forever and take him into heaven. Is that not wonderful? It's not what you've done and it's not what you're doing. It's what he has done and what he is doing. And when you hear that, That Jesus is defending you from the Father's just wrath. That Jesus is defending you based on His own payment for your sin. You hear that it's not based on your works, but on Him. Then, does this not pull your mind and your heart to a fuller commitment? You see, when you understand what He's done for you, it doesn't say, I can sin promiscuously because I've got all the hell insurance I need. I've got all the grace in the bank that I need. I can do whatever I want to because I'm going to receive grace on Judgment Day. No. What does it do when you realize that Jesus is your advocate, that Jesus is the propitiation of your guilt? It should cause your mind to be filled with love for Him and your heart to be filled with affection for Him. It should call you to a fuller commitment. It should pull you into a more faithful service. And faithful service has content to it. There are things that you can do for the kingdom in this church, in prayer time on Wednesday night, in your discipleship. You growing is part of the kingdom work. growing faithful service, more consistent worship, and anticipate the glories of worship. Come prepared to worship with your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. Be a participant. It causes me to want to be a more intentional disciple, more intentional discipleship. It wants me to show my membership in the family by being holy, by being busy, by being an exhibit of the family traits of the family of God. Amen? Amen. Please prepare yourselves to receive the supper of the Lord.