J Letters from John Part 3: “Righteous…Me?” 1 John 2:1-6

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Goal …not just to have us see this as another portion of scripture we are learning as part of a series, but that we would see that it is about us, where we are, and who we are.

Big Idea! “because Jesus is our advocate, God’s children can live a righteous life! ”

J Letters from John 1 John 2:1-6 page 1207

J Letters from John The Defense of Righteousness (1 John 2:1-2) In order to understand what we have been given as a child of God, we must look at…

1 John 2:1-2 …the aged apostle is addressing not only his immediate recipients, but by the Holy Spirit, he includes us sitting here this morning at Ebenezer Bible Fellowship Church.

1 John 2:1-2 John wants us to understand by the grammar he uses that the verb “to sin”, shows momentary, not continual or intentional action. He then negates the entire phrase so that it literally reads, I am writing to you so that you make no attempt to sin, even for a moment.

1 John 2:1-2 But if you do…there is hope; we have one who speaks in our defense, or advocate. The word advocate in the Greek, parakleœtos, means, intercessor, consoler, or comforter.

Advocate (John’s Gospel) “ 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper ( parakleœtos ), to be with you forever, 14:26 But the Helper ( parakleœtos ), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Advocate (John’s Gospel) 15:26 “But when the Helper ( parakleœtos ) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper ( parakleœtos ) will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

Our Accuser “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” (Rev 12:10 ESV) “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Rom 8:34 ESV)

1 John 2:1-2 The phrase here in the NIV “atoning sacrifice”, is really the word “propitiation” as translated in the ESV, NASB, and KJV. It is the Greek word, hilasmos, and means, atonement, or a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath and turns it to favor.

mercy seat, propitiation, the seat of atoning Jesus Christ became the final mercy seat or propitiation, upon which His precious blood was poured out, bringing atonement for those who believe.

1 John 2:1-2

Whole World? (John 11:47–52) “ 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all.

Whole World? (John 11:47–52) 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” (John 11:47–52 ESV)

Whole World? (Rev 7:9–10) “ 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”” (Rev 7:9–10 ESV) “ 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”” (Rev 7:9–10 ESV)

1 John 2:1-2 The whole world…those who have been redeemed, who have put their faith and trust in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, from every nation, tribe, people, and language.

Advocate/Propitiation…Now What? “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor 5:21 NAS) We will never become more righteous by our good deeds, nor will we become less righteous by our sin. The righteousness of Jesus Christ has been imputed, or put into our account by the Father, and is being kept there by Him, so let’s stop viewing our virtual righteousness meter as if our activities affect its level!

J Letters from John The Test of Righteousness (1 John 2:3-6) …there are recognizable characteristics that must show themselves if we are truly righteous…

1 John 2:3-6 John uses the greek word, ginoœskoœ, for the English word “know”, which literally means a knowledge that is gained through experience”

1 John 2:3-6 To know God is to keep his commands, and to keep his commands is to know God. The word “keep” that John uses here in regard to God’s commandments means, to guard by keeping the eye upon to prevent from escaping.

Flesh/Spirit Struggle “ 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Gal 5:16–17 ESV)

1 John 2:3-6 How ludicrous it is to say that you have come to know God through your experience with Him if you refuse to obey Him. In fact, John says, you’re a bold faced liar!

1 John 2:3-6 …living out who we are…manifests itself in the love ( agapeœ ) of God, which is truly made complete ( teleiooœ ) or finished, showing as it were, the completion of a masterpiece by a great artist. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10 ESV) “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”” (John 13:35 ESV)

1 John 2:3-6 The reality is, we are living, breathing examples of who Jesus is, walking in His righteousness, as displayed trophies of His grace.

J Letters from John So What?

…we are called upon to not entertain thoughts that lead to sinful activities. But if sin does happen, Jesus Christ is our defense attorney that pleads our case before the Father. He has already won our case because He is the permanent atoning sacrifice for our sins, and the sins of all who believe. We therefore, stand in Him as ones who are declared righteous, having the test of that shown in our obedience to Him, and our love for one another.

Ask yourself… 1.Do I desire to live a sinless life? 2.Do I understand that if I am a child of God, I have been declared righteous; my good deeds or sinful actions will not add to or detract from this righteousness? 3.Do I also understand, that as one who has been declared righteous, I am responsible to obey God’s word, and share His love, as a natural outflow of my righteousness? If you do not, you may not be a child of God. There is hope however, the Bible commands you to repent, or turn away from your sins, and trust your life to Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose again from the grave to give you eternal life and access into the very presence of the Holy God! My righteousness is Christ’s righteousness that has been imputed to my account. Though I will sin, and will be accused by Satan for it, Jesus Christ has won the case because of His atoning sacrifice. In other words, keep our focus on Jesus Christ and do what He would do.