WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:24.015 Unforgiven sin is a live mine buried in the soil of our soul, ready to explode with condemning consequences. That's the situation that we're in by nature, and that atomic explosion of condemnation that is due to the sin in us, the minds exploding, that is born in our place on the cross. 00:00:24.735 --> 00:00:37.030 The following message was recorded at King's Tree Church. May the spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. 00:00:40.150 --> 00:01:10.520 It's been quite a while since we were in first John. I've been taking a few weeks to focus on writing a long paper that I've been working on for about five years, and it was good. It was good to have that focus time, and I'm grateful for it. But I do miss being with you all in this fashion. I I miss being able to to unfold scripture to you and have fellowship in this particular way. 00:01:10.520 --> 00:01:29.005 And I suppose that's good. If if your pastor loved when he wasn't preaching, that would probably be a bad sign. I'm I'm grateful for pastor Sean and for Caleb and for pastor Chad being able to fill in for me. But I'm also very grateful that I can come back and meet with you in this way. So we're back in first John now. 00:01:29.940 --> 00:02:17.355 And if you can remember, all the way back two, three weeks ago, John was saying that we he said, behold the manner of love that God has had on us, that we should be called children of God. And we said that what it means to be a child of God through union to Christ, that relationship that we've entered into is supremely grounded in the love of God. Behold the love of God that you are his children. So before we do anything, before we've earned or lost anything, before we've merited anything, before any works are in our life, the fundamental beginning is the love of God. The sovereign love of God that says, you are mine. 00:02:17.675 --> 00:02:37.430 I I place my love upon you. And if you're trusting in Christ, that's that's true of you. That's your foundation. If you're trusting in Christ now, if you're throwing yourself upon him now, the reason that's there and the reason you're a child of God is because you've been loved. You've been loved by God. 00:02:37.430 --> 00:02:58.105 That's the foundation that everything is laid upon. But then we also saw that John said, okay, and if you're his children, then there's a necessary change that comes. Then there's a there's a moral aspect to that. If you're his children, then we will begin to be like him. We will begin to be like him. 00:02:58.345 --> 00:03:26.065 Good works are necessary to to hearken back to what Caleb said two weeks ago. Good works are called for necessary in the Christian life, not as the foundation, but as the fruit. So like Caleb said, often this can be blurred by our important emphasis on the fact that we are saved by faith alone. We're not saved. We don't build a ladder of good works and climb up to God to be saved. 00:03:26.220 --> 00:03:49.715 We we're very clear about that. We're saved by faith, by his grace that raises us up. But sometimes in emphasizing that, we can deemphasize the fact that this faith that saves yields a changed life. It's a saying attributed to the reformers, whether it was Martin Luther or John Calvin is of some debate. But it's a it's a popular saying and it's good to repeat here. 00:03:49.955 --> 00:04:08.870 Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone. So faith alone is the is the saving thing, the saving reality. And yet the faith that saves is the faith that also bears fruits that that transforms. The life begins to change. And this makes sense if you think about it. 00:04:09.715 --> 00:04:33.330 How does God save us? Just think about that question. When he breaks in to time and space and history, he comes as a human being. He comes as a fully embodied human being. Jesus Christ, the man with hands, with feet, with a voice, with a with a life, with twenty four hours in his day that he has to fill up. 00:04:33.650 --> 00:05:00.470 The salvation of God comes to us as a human being, an entire life. God doesn't break into time and space as a thought or a feeling or an idea. He breaks in as a man, as a human being, as a human life. And as such, he saves not just thoughts and feelings and ideas. He saves human lives. 00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:28.200 He's Jesus is a fully human savior, and he saves fully human people. He doesn't come to just save the invisible parts of me and leave the visible part. Well, it doesn't matter because inside I'm his. If he was an invisible savior, maybe that's what he would do. But he is an incarnate embodied fully human savior, and so he saves the incarnate embodied fully human people who are united to him. 00:05:28.280 --> 00:05:45.925 It's not just my feelings and thoughts and ideas that are united to him. It's my whole life because it's his whole life that saves. And so it's my whole life that is transformed. He doesn't just transform how I think and feel the invisible things. If he was an invisible savior, maybe. 00:05:45.925 --> 00:06:05.835 He transforms all of me, the inside and the outside because he is all of that. He is a fully human savior, and he saves fully human people. Our whole life then is being conformed to him. And that's what John is going to be emphasizing today. I haven't gotten there yet. 00:06:05.835 --> 00:06:31.045 It's in first John chapter three, which is where we're going to be. And John's emphasizing the necessity of life change for the Christian. The necessity of life change. Now, I'm gonna read it for us here in a second, but I want you to remember under this whole thing is these two these two foundation stones. One, like I said, the love of God is the beginning of this. 00:06:31.445 --> 00:07:00.585 Before there's works, before there's a life that's changed, there's the love of God. That's the foundation for us, Christian. That's the first thing to remember. The second thing to remember is what John has already said back in John or first John one verse eight, where he says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So John is gonna say some very serious things this morning. 00:07:00.905 --> 00:07:19.640 But just remember that he's not saying you need to be sinlessly perfect. Because he's already said, look, anyone who says he doesn't have sin, he's a liar. So John knows we continue to sin. And yet, as you're about to see, he calls us to be people who don't continually sin. And we have to say, how's that work? 00:07:19.640 --> 00:07:36.565 How how do these two work together? How do we solve that tension? And part of that is gonna be what I hope for us to see together this morning. Let me read the text for you though, and you can feel that tension that I'm talking about. We're starting in first John chapter three verse four is where we'll begin. 00:07:38.220 --> 00:07:56.145 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he, that's Christ, he appeared in order to take away sins. And in him, there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. 00:07:56.705 --> 00:08:15.790 No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:35.860 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. That's as far as we'll go today. He cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:54.515 So you feel the tension there. Those are strong words that John is saying to us, and we can't just say, well, those are uncomfortable ones. I don't I don't read those ones. This is this is what the Lord has for us this morning. So I wanna look at it with you and see how we can hold to these words and be shaped by them. 00:08:54.515 --> 00:09:46.835 We're going to look at sin and the Christian, and then sin and Christ, and then how does change happen? Those are the three things we'll look at this morning. Let me pray for us. Father, we are in need of you, desperately in need of you to understand these things, but more so, father, to live these things, to to allow these things to work their way through our mind and heart and into our hands, into our feet, into our mouths. And I pray that that's what you do today, Lord, for me as a sinner, together with my brothers and sisters here, that you, Lord, would work these words in us and and begin and continue this transformation that you have wrought in Christ. 00:09:47.315 --> 00:10:17.005 So come, father, and grant me grace to faithfully unfold your words. Grant your people grace to discerningly receive your words, and grant all of us the grace to be fittingly shaped by these words, truly transformed by them. None of this will happen right now, father, apart from your gracious, miraculous, supernatural presence with us. And it's to that that we appeal now in the name of Jesus. Amen. 00:10:20.125 --> 00:10:43.195 So we can't dismiss what John's saying here. These are uncomfortable words if you take them seriously that no one who has ever seen him or known him continues sinning. That the one born of God does not no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. These are difficult words, especially when, like I said, we know we continue to sin. In fact, John knows we continue to sin. 00:10:43.195 --> 00:11:07.310 John chapter one verse eight. And so how are we supposed to understand this passage? And there's a lot that could be said. We could go into the weeds here, but what I wanna do to boil it down for you, I think it can all be condensed down to this question. In this whole passage we read from verse four to nine, I think John's teaching here can be compressed into this single question that he asks me and you. 00:11:07.885 --> 00:11:22.730 What are we actually doing? That's the question. What are we actually doing in our lives in our lives? John is not asking us here, what are we saying? Or what are we feeling? 00:11:23.450 --> 00:11:42.785 Or what are we listening to? Or what are we writing on social media? Or very dangerously, what are we teaching? Because it's easy to say. It's very easy to say the right things about Christ, about faith, about life, about how I'm supposed to act toward other people. 00:11:42.785 --> 00:12:04.515 Very easy to say the right things. And it's harder, but you can also feel the right things. He's not saying what are you feeling when you put on the worship music, when you when you're driving out in the country, when you when you're just in the place, in the zone, and you feel at peace with the Lord and at peace with the world. He's not asking what do you feel? What are your religious feelings? 00:12:04.675 --> 00:12:14.995 He's not asking what are you listening to because it's easy to listen to the greatest sermons, good teaching, edifying things. Great. Great. Okay. But he's not saying what are you listening to? 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:29.955 He's not saying, what are you writing? Because social media I'm thinking of social media here, but it could be anything. Allows us to write things about ourselves, write things about what we believe, write things about what we've been learning. Great. But that doesn't matter. 00:12:30.195 --> 00:12:45.860 He's cutting through all this with the scalpel of his words, and he's saying, what are you doing? What's your life doing? What are the actions doing? He's saying that to me, pastor, who stands up and teaches. That's dangerous. 00:12:45.940 --> 00:13:03.135 What am I doing? What's my what are my actions saying? What are your actions saying? He's not talking about once in a while, you know, on a bad day or a bad moment where we stumble or on a good day or a good moment when we, you know, do something. He's not saying once in a while. 00:13:03.135 --> 00:13:13.870 He's saying, what's the pattern? What's the shape? What are you doing? What is the shape of your life? That's what reveals, John would say, who you are. 00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:33.905 And more importantly, whose you are. Again, look at verses six through eight of chapter three where he says, no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Let no one deceive you. Meaning, somebody might say, well, what you're doing doesn't matter. 00:13:34.350 --> 00:13:55.835 He says, no. Let no one deceive you. Whoever is practicing righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. So those who are doing Christ like righteousness, John says they're born of God. 00:13:55.915 --> 00:14:18.235 If they're they're they belong to him. That that acting, that doing displays they belong to him. Those who are doing unrighteousness, whose pattern, whose shape of life is marked by the actions of the world, John says they give every indication of belonging to the devil. He says it more harshly than that. He says, they belong to the devil. 00:14:18.475 --> 00:14:33.160 But I don't under I I don't know. I can't speak infallibly, but he's saying they give every indication that they belong to the devil. If we live like the world, we belong to him. If we're living like Christ, we belong to Christ. Now this is like the tree and the fruit. 00:14:33.160 --> 00:14:51.085 Okay? Caleb mentioned this for us, and we're familiar with this. These actions John is not saying what you do makes you Christ's or Satan's. He's saying what you do displays that you're Christ's or Satan's. The way apples display it's an apple tree. 00:14:51.085 --> 00:15:07.810 They don't make it an apple tree. Oranges display it's an orange tree. They don't make it an orange tree. So or to get more visceral here, imagine you have two paper bags, and we'll put them in different rooms for the sake of this analogy. One paper bag smells like warm, fresh apple pie. 00:15:07.970 --> 00:15:17.795 You go in the room and you smell apple pie. The other paper bag smells like rotten meat. You go in the room, it's rancid. Okay? You can't see it, but you can smell it. 00:15:17.955 --> 00:15:23.635 You open up the one in the paper bag in this room. Wow. An apple pie. Freshly cooked. Freshly baked. 00:15:23.760 --> 00:15:37.440 You open up this bag. A rancid piece of meat rotting inside the bag. The smell was true. Now the smell of apple pie didn't put an apple pie in that bag. The smell of apple pie displayed what was already in there. 00:15:37.575 --> 00:15:56.810 It showed me what was already in there. Same thing with the rotten meat. And John would say something similar of our soul. What we do, our lifestyle, the pattern, the habitual way of my life and of your life. That's like the aroma of our soul. 00:15:56.970 --> 00:16:23.440 What I'm doing is the aroma of my soul, and it reveals what's true, what's inside the paper bag. And it doesn't matter how many religious slogans I write on the outside of this paper bag. It doesn't matter how many hours of bible study I write on the outside of this bag or how many excuses. What does it smell like? What do the what does the aroma of my actions indicate is inside this paper bag. 00:16:23.680 --> 00:16:57.240 If if my actions smell like the world, John says there's every reason to believe you belong to the world. If your actions smell like Christ, if they have the aroma of Christ, which is to say belief in him and love like him, then that indicates we belong to him. That indicates we belong to him. Now, I interject here this this caveat, which you know, but this is a trajectory. John's not saying John's not saying it all changes instantaneously. 00:16:57.240 --> 00:17:23.830 And especially when we look at the rest of scripture, Paul and Romans seven and Romans eight and other places, see that. It's not that it changes instantaneously, but there's a trajectory of moving to am I am I moving to Christ likeness or moving toward world likeness? And this is dangerous for me to preach because you should know this. You do know this, I'm sure. But I'm going to make it explicit for you. 00:17:23.830 --> 00:17:49.040 I don't have this figured out. I don't I have to preach in front of my family that knows that sees me at home. And they know they know that, okay, he doesn't get this right all the time. This this is a dangerous thing for me to stand here and teach you about, and it's a dangerous thing for us to hear. But the only thing that allows me to teach this and you to receive this without complete despair is what we sang about. 00:17:49.040 --> 00:18:02.705 The grace of God. The grace of Christ. We cast ourselves upon that. We say with the with the tax collector, Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me, a sinner. 00:18:03.105 --> 00:18:26.475 And and that's our refuge when we're looking at things like this. So don't don't see me putting on any falsely shiny armor of perfect righteousness up here. And don't hear me calling you to put on falsely shiny armor. But hear me saying and and and hear the call, if we belong to him, we need to be becoming more like him. That's that's what it comes down to. 00:18:26.475 --> 00:18:48.130 We need to be becoming more like him. And so that's the we can address here. I kinda did just then, but we can address this elephant in the room. If John is saying we don't continue to sin, and yet we know and John knows we do still have sin. How does the how can he say things like verse nine verse nine? 00:18:48.130 --> 00:18:59.985 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. For God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning. How can he say that? And verse eight, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. How? 00:19:00.225 --> 00:19:07.970 How can he say that? How can I say that? Let me give you an analogy that helped me get it. Get this in my mind. I hope it's helpful for you too. 00:19:08.050 --> 00:19:19.010 Imagine there's a raft that is being carried down the river. There's a strong river current flowing. The raft is being carried down the river. You look at it and you say, that raft is being washed down river. Pretty clear. 00:19:19.825 --> 00:19:46.540 Now imagine an outboard motor is riveted to that raft and turned on and it begins to drive, push the raft up the river, driving it up because now there's a source of power abiding in the raft, driving it up the river. Now, the raft never again get bumped by the water? No. It still gets buffeted by the water. In fact, through certain streams of the river, it might actually get pushed backwards. 00:19:46.540 --> 00:20:11.950 It might still go down the stream. But even when that happens, an onlooker would not say there's a raft getting washed downriver. They would say there's a raft struggling upriver. There's a raft driving upriver because there's a motor in it that's driving it against the current, and it's moving it in a particular direction. In a similar way, our soul you kinda see where I'm going here. 00:20:11.950 --> 00:20:56.855 Our soul is like that raft. And by in and of itself, we have no motive power to fight against the current of sin that's in us, just driving us downriver. But when Christ comes to abide in us, when he breaks in by the spirit is living in us, the the outboard motor of his presence is riveted to our soul, and he begins to work to drive us, to drive us, to drive our affections, our desires, our actions against the stream of sinful desire toward himself. So to say that one in Christ does not sin doesn't mean that they can't sometimes be pushed backward along that river. It doesn't mean that. 00:20:57.255 --> 00:21:33.630 But it does mean that they cannot just turn off that motor and coast down the river. To say that the one who is born of God doesn't continue to sin means that that motor never turns off. The motor is driving them, driving them, driving us toward Christ. So those coasting down the river with no motor running, John says they do not belong to Christ. But those with an engine driving them Christward, even slowly, even sometimes against the backward motion of the of the river, they're showing by the very struggle that they do belong to Christ. 00:21:33.630 --> 00:21:51.015 Christ is in them, and they belong to him. They they they cannot give themselves to sin. They cannot just live in sin any longer. And John says that's that's the point. The one who belongs to Christ is actually living increasingly in accordance with Christ. 00:21:51.575 --> 00:22:18.465 His love. The one who is acting like the world, well, it implies displays they belong to the world. And this is a call to examine ourselves. I have had to and I continue to examine myself in preparing this sermon. And this is a call to look Because it's easy by myself to think I'm I I'm, you know, I'm a Christian and I'm pretty good. 00:22:18.465 --> 00:22:31.120 I've got it okay. But what's the pattern of my life say? Is the pattern of my life moving toward Christ likeness? Is it moving away from him? And this is revealed by other people. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:55.580 People are the light shining into the basement of our soul and saying that's really what it is like. Because how we respond to each other, how we relate to each other, how we deal with one another, that's showing that's showing our what we're like. And so I just call you and I call me as well to a to a sober examination. Lord, where am I here? What what do I need to hear from you here? 00:22:55.740 --> 00:23:06.605 Now very briefly, because we're talking about sin, we need to look at what John says here at the beginning. Everyone who makes a practice of sin also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. So what is this? What's he mean by the sin? 00:23:06.605 --> 00:23:16.605 This driving down current. Right? What does that even mean? Well, says sin is lawlessness. And you might at first think, well, means sin is breaking the rules. 00:23:16.925 --> 00:23:34.675 Breaking human rules, breaking God's rules. And that's true. We see that in scripture. But when he uses lawlessness here, John is using it in kind of a technical way to refer to a unique expression of rebellion against God. Let me show you from one of Paul's letters. 00:23:34.835 --> 00:23:53.090 You don't have to turn here. In second Thessalonians two three through five, this is what we read. Let no one deceive you in any way for in that debt for that day Christ returned. That day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. The son of destruction. 00:23:53.090 --> 00:24:15.300 This figure would be the Antichrist. This kind of final figure of rebellion. The son of lawlessness is revealed, who opposes and exalts himself against every so called God or object of worship. So he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not Oh, and then down a little bit further in verse eight. 00:24:16.260 --> 00:24:51.840 And then the lawless one, this figure opposing God, will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. I'm not gonna go into this. There's there's depths of layers we could draw to this. All I want you to see is that when John says sin is lawlessness, he's talking about that kind of lawlessness, this high handed rebellion, this siding with Satan, this opposing of God. And so what John's saying here is sin is not a glitch in the system. 00:24:52.655 --> 00:25:24.905 It's not an unfortunate slip that I can address later on. It's not something to kinda laugh off. Sin is siding with Satan. Sin, to use an extreme simplification of John's idea here, is being is being on team Satan rather than team Christ. When we sin, and John knows we do, what we're doing in that moment is casting in our lot as it were with anti Christ, with that which opposes Christ. 00:25:25.385 --> 00:25:53.465 So when I choose world imaging, self protecting, hatred, which is what it really is. When I choose that over Christ imaging, self giving love, in that moment, I'm lawless. I'm like the lawless one. I'm siding with Satan against God. I'm with Adam and Eve hiding with a serpent instead of where the Lord is. 00:25:53.465 --> 00:26:08.790 So John says this to help us feel sin is a big deal. And it's in each one of us, and we need to take it seriously. So and the Christian does not continue in it. Yes. We still struggle with it, but we don't get washed down the river. 00:26:08.790 --> 00:26:28.055 We're driving against that river because Christ is in us. Okay. So that's the that's sin and the Christian. Now, what does this passage say about sin and Christ? Because ultimately, sin and the Christian is just hopeless unless there's something said about sin and Christ. 00:26:28.055 --> 00:26:41.750 What does it say about sin and Christ? Look at verses five and then the second half of verse eight. Verse five. You know that he appeared to take away sins and in him there is no sin. Second half of verse eight. 00:26:42.390 --> 00:27:00.005 The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. So what we see right off the bat is that there's an incompatibility between Christ and sin. In case any of us needed to know that. But John's making it very clear. These two do not go together. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:17.785 He appeared to take sin away. Now, what does it mean that he appeared to take sin away? Now, the first thing you might think, and this is true, is he appeared to forgive sins. He appeared to forgive them. He appeared to take away the condemnation that I'm due. 00:27:18.025 --> 00:27:37.700 He appeared to take away the damning punishment of my sin. Absolutely. That's true. Let me read for you a wonderful depiction of it from Colossians. Colossians chapter two verses 13 to 14 gives us this. 00:27:39.380 --> 00:27:59.690 Where we read, and you, we were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. And God made you alive. So we were dead. God made us alive together with him having forgiven all our trespasses, our sins. How? 00:27:59.690 --> 00:28:21.145 By canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. So yes, Christian, Jesus came to take away our sin by forgiving them. That is absolutely true. And he takes that sin away by receiving it into himself. 00:28:21.545 --> 00:28:43.495 Your sin, my sin, the stuff that weighs us down, the stuff that brings shame, the stuff that brings condemnation. He came. God came to take that into himself. To nail it to the cross. To nail my sin to the cross through in his body. 00:28:44.055 --> 00:29:04.980 He came to do that. To cover my sin with a cleansing blood that he pours down in love. To trample my sin to to hell by his resurrection. So be assured Christian, if you're in Christ, if you're trusting him, your sins have been taken away because they've been forgiven. That's true. 00:29:05.220 --> 00:29:33.610 That's true. But when John uses the phrase take away sin here, the main thing he means is not they've been forgiven. Though that's absolutely true. The main thing he means is Jesus came to actually take sin out of your life. Jesus came to actually make his people more like him, to actually remove the actions of sin and implant his own likeness. 00:29:33.610 --> 00:29:44.275 Jesus came to change us. Yes. To save us, but to change us. That's that's the idea here. Now, another analogy for you on this one. 00:29:44.275 --> 00:29:54.570 Imagine you have a minefield and you wanna turn it into a garden. Why? I don't know. But imagine that's the situation. What needs to be done? 00:29:54.730 --> 00:30:06.375 Well, first of all, this ground is full of live minds. And let's say they're atomic minds. You touch them. It's evaporation. You're gone. 00:30:06.535 --> 00:30:19.980 Completely destroyed. So the the ground is full of live minds. The first thing that needs to be done is we need to diffuse these. We need to diffuse these mines. They're not gonna explode and kill us. 00:30:20.380 --> 00:30:47.800 But the second thing is we need to then remove them. They need to be diffused, but then they need to be removed. The the metal, the the mines need to be pulled up out of the ground and removed so we can plant fruitful seeds in that soil. Same thing for us. We are filled naturally, you and I, were filled with damning minds of sin. 00:30:48.120 --> 00:31:23.280 Live minds. Unforgiven sin is a live mind buried in the soil of our soul, ready to explode with condemning consequences. That's the situation that we're in by nature. And that atomic explosion of condemnation that is due to the sin in us, the minds exploding, that is born in our place on the cross. Jesus takes those that explosive power and endures the full fire of our condemnation in his love upon the cross. 00:31:23.280 --> 00:31:50.990 So the minds in our life are diffused. Christian, the mind of sin no longer has a damning explosive capacity in your life. You're forgiven. But our lives are still riddled with giant pieces of metal that need to be dug out and moved away so that a garden can be planted. And some of those mines are buried so deep for the Lord to rip them up. 00:31:50.990 --> 00:32:06.915 A lot of the soil is gonna come up with them, and it's gonna be it's gonna be painful. He's gonna rip up the ground, but he wants to not just diffuse them. Okay. Now you're not gonna die. He wants to remove them and plant a garden where there was mines. 00:32:06.995 --> 00:32:26.450 Plant a garden that grows into Christ like witness where before there was only a minefield of destruction and death. So that's what he's doing. And John says Jesus appeared to do that too. Jesus appeared not just to diffuse the minds, but to remove them. To actually take sin out of the lives of his people. 00:32:27.505 --> 00:32:45.650 May it be so. May it be so. That's where we say, Lord, let that happen and strengthen me to to put my hand on the mine with your hand upon it and tear it up. Because I I I want gardens to be growing here. I want fruit trees to be growing here. 00:32:45.650 --> 00:33:05.305 I don't just want a barren life that's not gonna go to hell. I want a life that is fruitful to the praise of your name. And in fact, the proof that the mines have been diffused is that they are being removed, and a garden is being sown in its place. Now, let me close by asking this final question. Okay. 00:33:05.305 --> 00:33:24.540 How does this change happen? And we're only gonna begin to touch on it today because next week is going to take this further. How does this change begin to happen? How does Jesus how does his appearing take away our sin? Well, back in John's gospel, we get the same phrase again, this take away phrase. 00:33:24.540 --> 00:33:50.820 And it comes when John the Baptist looks at Jesus and he says, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. How does the lamb of God take away our sin? Well, the two ways that we would have been looking at throughout those sermons today. First, he forgives our sin as the lamb of God. 00:33:50.980 --> 00:34:18.500 He forgives our sin as the lamb of God. There's another time in John's gospel where we are told to look, same word as behold. That comes in John nineteen thirty seven where it says, the soldiers the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness, and his testimony is true. He knows that he's telling the truth so that you also may believe. 00:34:18.580 --> 00:34:35.645 For these things took place that scripture might be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be broken. And again, another scripture says, they will look or behold. They will behold him whom they have pierced. So this is where we behold the lamb of God who takes away our sin. 00:34:35.645 --> 00:34:49.580 This is where we see how he forgives our sin. Look with me by faith for a moment. Close your eyes if you have to. Look with me by faith at the cross of Christ where he hangs pierced for us. Why is he hanging on the cross? 00:34:50.545 --> 00:35:07.840 Why is he stripped and lifted up in shame? Why is his body torn and impaled? Why is his heart pierced? And why is he crushed under the judgment of God? Because he's taking away our sin. 00:35:08.160 --> 00:35:19.855 That's why he's like that. That's why God looks this way. Because he's taking our sin. He's healing our sin. He's canceling utterly the power of sin. 00:35:19.855 --> 00:35:41.230 If God has done this, no voice in all the universe can bring our sin up again. He's canceling our sin. Behold the lamb of God who takes away our sin by forgiving it in himself. But then also this lamb of God removes that sin. He take he not just diffuses the minds, he brings the minds out. 00:35:41.230 --> 00:35:59.410 How does that work? Follow with me on the logic of our salvation as we're wrapping up. And I know we've looked at a lot, but focus here for a moment and see if you can see why this is the case. The death of Jesus forgives those who believe in him. We know that. 00:35:59.410 --> 00:36:16.765 The death of Jesus forgives is forgiveness, is life for those who believe he is Lord and God and savior. But that belief is not just intellectual assent. It's not just I I agree. You know, you convinced me. I agree. 00:36:16.765 --> 00:36:34.870 The belief that saves is a receiving of him. It's a feeding upon him. It's a taking him in as Lord and God and savior. The lamb of God does not take away my sin if I keep him at arm's length and say, yeah, I believe in that. God, I agree. 00:36:35.725 --> 00:36:57.080 He he saves as we bring him in. Embrace him. Feed as it were upon him. So the Israelites had to eat the Passover lamb if they were going to be part of the covenant community. We too have to eat Christ, the lamb of God, if we're going to receive the salvation that he is for us. 00:36:57.080 --> 00:37:09.335 We need to bring him into ourselves. Treasure him. Embrace him. That's the faith that receives the death of Christ as forgiveness. But then note this fact. 00:37:09.335 --> 00:37:19.870 Note how this works. The human soul is built such that it becomes like what it loves. That's how we're built. Watch yourself. Watch other people. 00:37:20.190 --> 00:37:52.800 What we what we cherish, we are going to begin to become like that. And the kind of faith that saves is a faith that cherishes Christ, treasures Christ, embraces Christ, which means it's also the very means by which we become like this Christ. We can't lay hold of the one who dies in love as life, and yet not begin also to look like that one that we've lain hold of. We become like what we love most. One final analogy for you. 00:37:52.800 --> 00:38:08.945 I hope you have time for it, but it's this is a good one, I think. One final analogy for you. Imagine there's a person who's only eating gravel. What's the situation for this person? Starving and his whole body is ripped to shreds like he's a mess. 00:38:08.945 --> 00:38:25.190 His esophagus, his stomach, he's sick. Now imagine he begins to eat good food. He begins to eat good food instead of gravel. What happens? First, most immediately, the hunger is taken away because he's eating now. 00:38:25.430 --> 00:38:51.560 But as he continues to eat that good food, he continues to feed upon it. His esophagus begins to be healed. His stomach lining begins to be healed. His body begins to begin become more healthy because he's eating the right food now. Similarly, when we turn from the gravel of sin and feed by faith on Christ, not just intellectually say, yeah, believe that. 00:38:52.200 --> 00:39:12.250 Feed on Christ. What begins to happen? Well, first, the hunger pangs of condemnation, they're removed. We're forgiven. But as we continue to feed on this Christ, all the stuff in our life that's been shredded by sin is slowly healing is beginning to heal. 00:39:12.330 --> 00:39:37.760 That selfish tendency that that that way that I just when this comes up, I just respond by getting angry. I respond this way. That envy that that sin that seems to be wrapped around my neck since I was a kid as we're feeding on Christ. These wounds of the gravel of sin are being healed because Christ is the one that we're being conformed to. We become like him. 00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:58.395 We become like him just as it's true physically. So it's true spiritually. We become what we eat. And if the one we are feasting on is the one who is revealed in the work of love on Calvary, then as I'm feasting on him, I'm becoming like him. And I that's where I wanna leave us today. 00:39:58.475 --> 00:40:24.905 That the one with the our savior Christian, our savior, our Lord, and our God, his death on the cross, that is not just the the random arbitrary means that god used to save us from hell, and now we can be saved. Great. Why does he die on a cross? Because that that act when he says, I'm taking what doesn't belong to me. I'm taking it onto myself. 00:40:24.905 --> 00:40:40.560 I'm taking your sin. I'm taking your damnation. I'm taking your sorrow and your brokenness. I I love you for no reason in you, and I'm taking all this onto myself, and I'm pouring myself under out. I'm pouring myself out under the death you deserve. 00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:54.335 This act shows us the character of the one that we're saved to. It's not just random. It shows us who he is. And if your soul and my soul are saying, he's my Lord. He's my life. 00:40:55.040 --> 00:41:13.355 He's my God. And that's what salvation is. It's not just he's the head of my religious order. It's he's my life. If our soul is saying that of this particular Christ revealed in this particular act of love, then we will begin to be like that. 00:41:13.515 --> 00:41:43.955 If I'm feasting on this love, I will begin to be like that. So the the the most fundamental way to begin to see sin taken away in our lives, Christian, is to suffocate it with satisfaction in Christ. To suffocate it with satisfaction in Christ. John says in the passage we looked at today, no one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Meaning seeing and knowing him is the decisive death blow to our sin. 00:41:43.955 --> 00:41:58.770 The turning of that motor that drives us against the current of sin is seeing this Christ, Knowing this Christ. Treasuring this Christ. And how do we do that? Prayer. Desperate prayer. 00:41:59.090 --> 00:42:11.105 Prayer. Lord, give me yourself. Satisfy me in you. Don't let me walk off into all these things that I'm inclined to. I mean, we've gotta be praying by ourselves and together. 00:42:11.585 --> 00:42:24.600 Scripture, show me your face. Show me yourself here. Lord, this you may say, this is as dry as sawdust to me. Make this life to me because I must find Christ. I must find Christ. 00:42:24.760 --> 00:42:37.320 We press into him like that. And next week, next week, together. We need we do this together. We do this with one another because I meet Christ in you. You meet Christ in me. 00:42:37.655 --> 00:42:49.655 And we need to be showing him to one another, meeting him in one another through the love that he's shown us as it lives out in our own life. So may it be true of us as his people. 00:42:49.815 --> 00:43:07.598 Thank you for listening to this message from King's Tree Church in Sabina, Ohio. To see more of the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship with us on Sundays at 10AM or visit our website at kingstreechurch.org.