1st John – Part 7 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. So glad that you’re with us on the broadcast. We’re going to be sharing from 1 John chapter three. We’re gonna answer some questions that some of the greatest Bible scholars on the earth that I know have asked me. And that is, how do we live and not sin? First John three says, “Whoever abides in him does not sin.” So open your heart and receive the word of God today. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us. We are sharing from the book of First John. Today, we are in 1 John chapter three. And John is writing, this is about 90 A.d. So he has been walking with the Lord Jesus Christ for over 50 years, and he has a revelation of the love of God. You know, he writes in his gospel letter, that he is the disciple who Jesus loved. And when you get a revelation of the love of God, it’s gonna revolutionary, revolutionize your life. He says this in 1 John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called ‘the sons of God.’ Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are the sons of God. We’re not trying to become the sons of God. We are the children of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And every person who has this hope in themselves, purifies themselves even as he is pure.

 

  Yeah, a big issue in the world today, is just this kind of orphan spirit. Just people who are looking for acceptance, and even trying to be accepted, and just, just really distorting who they are to try to fit in, try to be accepted. Something my dad and my mom taught me at a young age, is that you don’t have to try to fit in. You’re actually created to be different. You know, the Bible says that we’re a royal race. We’re peculiar people.

 

  Right.

 

  And you don’t have to try to fit in into the world’s mode, or the world’s model, because you’re already accepted in the beloved. You’re already part of God’s family. And you’re not just accepted, you actually belong.

 

  Right.

 

  You belong. You belong to your heavenly father. You are a child, you are a son, you are a daughter. You belong. So you don’t need have this constant, “I need to be accepted, I need to try to fit in.” You know? No one understands me. No one cares about me. The devil tries to isolate people big time.

 

  Yeah, I know it’s one thing that we really tried to teach you and instill in you. You know, Mom wrote this book, “Imparting Success to the Next Generation,” and we really focus on three things. And we learned this from the Jewish culture, that we wanted to impart in you and your two brothers. And that is this, number one, a love for the word of God, number two, a love for family, and number three, a practical trade. But one thing that we learned from the Jewish culture, when Jewish children are 13 years old, they celebrate bar mitzvah. They’re given their own copy of the scriptures, and they are accepted into the adult society. And so we don’t have these teenage years really, where we wonder who we are. We know who we are, and we know that we’re accepted. And when you know who you are, when you know that you are a child of God, you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, you are sanctified by the blood of Jesus. You’re justified. Ephesians one verse six says that “He made us accepted in the beloved.” When you know that, that strengthens you against the lies of the enemy.

 

  And you don’t have to go around just feeling constantly like an outsider, constantly like no one understands you, no one gets you. The enemy really tries to place those thoughts in people’s hearts, that you’re alone, no one cares, just this type of orphan type mentality. And that’s not from God, that’s from the enemy. You’re accepted in the beloved, and you, God wants to give you this sense of belonging. He’s actually placed his own spirit inside of you that cries out, “Abba Father.” That’s always crying out, always knows that you have your heavenly father. You’re not alone, you’re not forgotten about, but God sees you, he cares about you, and he’s with you. You know, Jesus said, “I’m with you always, even to the end of the age. I’ll never leave you. I’ll never forsake you.”

 

  Amen. You know, Paul wrote this in Romans 8:14, and you can read it on your own, verse 14 through verse 17. But he says, “As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” And it’s the spirit of God that leads us into sonship, that leads us into knowing that we’re God’s children. And then he says, “We have not received the spirit of again to fear.” You know, it’s not this legalism, it’s not through keeping the law, but it, we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, just like you’re saying, “Daddy God, Abba Father,” in Romans 8:16. And he says, if we’re children, then we’re heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus. So he says, “The Spirit of God leads us into sonship. The spirit of God leads us into freedom. And the spirit of God leads us into the fact of who we are and what we have in Christ, that we’re heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus, that we’re co-heirs together.” And when you know that, it changes the way that you live in this world.

 

  A lot of people are scared of isolation too. You know, I was thinking about John the Beloved. He was actually exiled to the island of Patmos because they couldn’t kill him. They wanted to, they tried to boil him in oil, but he just was so full of the power of God, they couldn’t kill him. So they ended up isolating him on the island of Patmos. But I don’t think he went crazy. You know? Like some people might go crazy if they’re isolated in a situation like that, because I think he really knew how to commune with the father.

 

  Yeah.

 

  You know, I wanted to be married younger, but it wasn’t until 31, when I was at 31 years of age when I got married. But I kind of learned as a young adult, in those period, you know. And I lived alone. I was away from Colorado for a long time, but I learned how to just spend time with God, and just really value… That’s where I found my sense of belonging, my sense of purpose, my sense of happiness, and joy and hope. It wasn’t necessarily on what was happening on the outside of me, but I could, I could come there, and just really commune with the father.

 

  And that’s,

 

  That’s a powerful, I know that John had that revelation, that ability to do that. And even when he was on the island of Patmos. I don’t think he ever felt alone.

 

  Amen. So we’re connected with the love of God. And when you have that revelation of God’s love, and that revelation of acceptance, and it’s Christ who completes you. You know, you were sharing in the broadcast yesterday, and you were talking about this, that in Colossians two verse 10, the Bible says, “We are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and authority.” And did you know that is the gospel truth? If you are born again, you are complete. And it is no outside person, it is no outside relationship that completes you. It’s your relationship with God that completes you. And you are a whole person in your relationship with God through Christ. And what happens, if you have a husband and wife that come together, and they understand that they’re complete in Christ, and they’re strong in their relationship with God, you have multiplied strength.

 

  And so a lot of times people are looking to another person on the outside, or another thing to complete them. And John writes this in 1 John 1:4, and he says, “These things we write to you that your joy may be full.” Fullness of joy can only really be known through knowing Jesus Christ. Now, he goes on and he says this. And in 1 John 3:4-10 “Whoever commits sin transgresses 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. Whoever abides in him,” In verse six, “Does not sin. He says, “Whoever sins has not seen him neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you, he who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteousness. He commits sin is of the devil. For the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose was the son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him, and he can sin because he is born of God. In this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil, whoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he who loves not his brother.” So he says twice in that portion of scripture, in verse six, “Whoever abides in Christ does not sin.” And then he says, in 1 John chapter three here, in verse nine, “Whoever is born of God, does not commit sin.” And that means exactly what it says. And sometimes people struggle with this. But the only way you can understand this from a gospel perspective, is you realize that John is not talking about your physical body, he’s talking about your spirit. And when you understand that “I am a spirit, I possess a soul, and I live in a body.” And you understand that your spirit is not sinning. You are the righteousness of God in Christ, you’re sanctified by the blood of Jesus. You’re justified by faith, you’re justified by the blood. Romans five says both of those things. When you understand that, it changes your life. Because you understand it, your new identity is the identity that you have in the spiritual realm. And a lot of people in the church don’t understand this today, because they don’t understand that the New Testament is primarily written from a perspective of who we are in the spirit. And if you, and that’s why they don’t have any revelation. And when you don’t understand that, it messes up your life. But when you begin to understand that “I am a spirit, I possess a soul, and I live in a body.” Then you can make sense out of these scriptures. And if I sin as a believer. And you know what? If you live very long as a believer, you will sin. But I’m not talking about your spirit. I’m talking about in the body, right? We can sin, right? If we say that we have no sin. John writes this in one John one. And he’s writing two believers. We are a liar, and the truth is not in us. But if we can confess our sins, he is faithful and just. You know what? We need to keep a good conscience before God. And so he’s talking… You have to understand the difference between who you are in the spirit, and your physical body.

 

  And when you know what you have in the spirit, that gives you authority, that gives you power, that gives you the victory in life. I love what he writes in verse eight that, “For this purpose, the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.” There is a devil, there is an enemy, there is a thief. Jesus said that thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Those are the works of the devil. But Jesus came to overcome the works of the devil, to destroy the works of the devil.

 

  Amen.

 

  To give us abundant life. Life and life more abundant. A lot of things get attributed to God that have nothing to do with God; sickness, pain, torment, poverty. These things are not from God, they’re from the devil. And Jesus was manifest to destroy those things.

 

  Amen. You know what? We’re gonna come back in the second half of the broadcast, and we’re gonna be talking more about the things that we have in the spirit. And when we understand what God has given us as believers, we can overcome all the works of the devil. Blessings.

 

  Friends, we’ve been sharing from my Bible school class, “First John: Our Relationship with God.” And these truths have revolutionized my life. We are making the teachings of this available live from church, and you can receive them downloadable free in audio form, and my syllabus, free online. Blessings.

 

  The church is the best thing that has ever happened to the world. I’m so thankful for the church. I’m so thankful for the global body of believers. I’m so thankful for local church bodies like this. I love the local church because Jesus loves the local church. This is the thing that is holding our country together.

 

  Friends, we just were in the first half of the broadcast, and we were talking about a couple of things. We were talking about this scripture in first John three, verse six, that says, “Whoever abides in him does not sin.” The problem with people that are practicing sin as believers, is that they don’t really understand their relationship with God in Christ, and they don’t understand who they are. It goes on to say in that verse, “Whoever sins, or is practicing sin, living in this lifestyle, not living in the victory that Jesus provided, has not seen him, neither known him.” So the way that we get victory over sin, and victory over Satan, is through our relationship with God in Christ. The primary goal of Christianity is not to overcome sin and overcome Satan. The primary goal of Christianity is to know God through Jesus Christ. And the fact is, Jesus came and overcame sin, and overcame Satan for us.

 

  I love, I love, man, just one John three verse nine. This fits in with what you’re saying. “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him.” That’s Jesus Christ remains.

 

  Amen.

 

  When you’re born of God, Jesus is in you. And he can not sin because he’s been born of God. You’re born as a new creation. Your nature shifts. There’s a DNA, a spiritual DNA shift inside of you. In your spirit, you now have the DNA of Jesus.

 

  Amen.

 

  You have his righteousness. You have a new nature. You’ve been born of God. So sin, it goes against who you are.

 

  Right.

 

  You can’t live in that. You can’t dwell in it. You can’t enjoy it because it’s not who you are.

 

  You know, we had this person in church years ago, and this person got involved in all this fleshy stuff. And I was talking to a person in this person’s family later, and I said, “I just don’t understand how a born again person could have, you know, do those kind of things, and have the kind of response he did.” And I think the fact was, this person was not really born again. But when you’re born again, number one, and number two, you understand who you are, it changes how you live. And you’re not going to live in this just awful, terrible stuff. And I told this family member that I was talking to, “You know what? If I did that, my conscience would condemn me. And I could not, I could not live with myself.”

 

  And some people too, they get stuck because they aren’t thinking right. You know? you can’t think like the world.

 

  Right.

 

  If you’re born again, you can’t think like the world. You know? You’re a new creation in Christ. You need to change your thinking. And that’s why Paul writes in Romans, “Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

 

  Amen.

 

  And that God renews our mind through his word.

 

  He sanctifies us

 

  Amen.

 

  through his word. You need to spend time in the word of God.

 

  Amen. So in the next few verses I read, we’ve read first John three verse one through verse 10, the next few verses in verse 11 through verse 18, primarily John talks about that we, as believers, we walk in love. And you know what the reason we walk in love, and not only do we walk in love, but he says, we’re givers. And the reason that we’re givers is because Jesus and God took up residence on the inside of us, and the greatest giver lives on the inside of us. And so we don’t hate our brother, we’re not murders. Why? Because we have the love of God in us. And we’re not stingy. Why? Because Jesus is living in us. God is in us. The greatest giver lives on the inside of us. You know, I remember Lester Sumrall, he talked about how years ago, he was in England, and he was preaching one night. It wasn’t a very big crowd, but two people came to the altar to receive Christ. And he said it was evident that one of them received Christ. And he said it was evident that the other one didn’t. And he said, in those days, the way they were receiving the offering, was they had boxes by the door. And he said, when these two people left, the guy that received Christ, he took his wallet, he opened it up, he took everything in it and put it in the offering. The other guy just looked the other way. And he said, you could tell who was born again by their response. You see, when you’re born of God, you are a giver, because God in Christ lives in you. The greatest giver lives in you. But in the last few verses, and I want to jump in here right now, in 1 John 3:19-24, that really ties back to 1 John 3:4-10, talking about who we are in our conscious. And so he says this, in 1 John 3:19, “Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and will assure our hearts before him, for if our heart does not condemn us…” “If our heart condemns us.” Excuse me. “God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” In verse 21, “If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.” You know, people who have a good conscience, who understand that they’re the righteousness of God, who live out of their spirit in a good relationship with God, have great faith before God. And he says in verse 22, “Whatever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. This is his commandment that we believe on the name of his son Jesus, and love one another as he gave his commandment. And he who keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him, and hereby we know that he abides in us by the spirit which he has given us.”

 

  And that spirit that’s inside of you, it sets you apart.

 

  Right.

 

  You know, when you know that you’re set apart, that there’s something inside of you that makes you different, and you realize how much you’re loved by God, when you’re confident in your, in your relationship with God, your conscience towards God, and you know that you’re accepted, and you belong in God’s family, you’re not gonna be searching for validation from everyone outside of you.

 

  Amen.

 

  You know, I love what he writes in verse 13 here, 1 John 3:13, “Do not marvel my Brethren if the world hates you.” As believers, there’s gonna be some people that just don’t like you.

 

  That’s right.

 

  There’ve been a few times, our church has a good reputation in the community, but there’ve been a couple times where just people came against us.

 

  Right.

 

  Where the news pulled something outta context, and tried to slam us, and try to get people, stir things. You know, if you google our church, there’s some bad reviews out there. Don’t marvel if you get a few bad reviews. Don’t marvel if everyone doesn’t like you. And don’t fall apart either. Because if you know how much you’re loved by God, by Jesus Christ himself, you’re not gonna be looking for validation from everyone, from all the wrong places.

 

  Right. You know, Jesus said, “Whoa, unto you if all men speak well of you.”

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  He said, “You know what? They hated me, they’re gonna hate you.” Now, when you walk in a good conscience before God, what that does, is it causes your faith to work. And I’m gonna use an example. And I love what you were talking about, how we’re not looking for validation from the world. You know, Aaron, when you were a child, and your brothers, we never beat holiness into you, so on and so forth. And we never really used the law against you. We taught you who you were in Christ. And I remember when you first went to college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that when you finally found the right church, you know, the first Sunday you went there, and you had to ride two buses, took you an hour and a half to get there, and the pastor’s mom brought you back. And she was older and loved God. She still loves God, still serving God. But you know, that worked great. The next week one of her friends brought you back. That was good. But the third week, I think it was, then this 27-year-old girl, they assigned her and she took you back. But you said she wanted to stop off at this sports bar, and Pittsburgh Steelers happened to be playing the Denver Broncos, and you said they were the rudest people, and she had some other friends come, and you felt very uncomfortable. And you said, “I don’t belong in that place because I’m the righteousness of God. I’m sanctified by the blood of Jesus. That’s not who I am.” And I thought, “Thank God, you know what? You knew who you were.” And you, at that point in time, you know who you are. And I knew that, you know what? We didn’t beat this holiness teaching into you, but you knew who you were. You knew that you were the righteousness of God in Christ, and you were sanctified by Jesus, and sanctified people don’t act like that and do those kind of things.

 

  Yeah. And just as a believer, there are gonna be some people that don’t just like you because they sense that something’s different about you. I remember years ago when I was working on my doctorate, the head professor over the doctoral program just didn’t like me. And he tried to change the rules against me, and said that I didn’t meet all the requirements to graduate, and I just pulled up the rules from his own handbook that he made, and I emailed it back to him, and also to my flute professor who did like me, who God gave me favor with. And I said, “Well, this is what is from the handbook, and I’ve met all the requirements, and I will get my degree and graduate.”

 

  Yeah.

 

  And she actually gave me an a plus in her class. She said, “I don’t ever give out a pluses, but I did, just because of how you handled those situations.”

 

  Right.

 

  Like she could just see that for whatever reason, just I set off bells and whistles in this guy’s head.

 

  Amen.

 

  And sometimes in the world, there’s just some people that just are, are not gonna like you, and it doesn’t matter what you do. So, but don’t try to get them to like you. Some people feel like, “Man, if I, man…” They just feel like they’re lacking. And, if ’cause someone doesn’t like me, it just tears ’em up and just eats away at them. Who cares?

 

  Yeah. You know what? When you have a heart, a conscience that is not condemning you, you have great faith towards God. Andrew Wommack is one of the greatest people of faith that I know. And you know, Andrew talks, you know, he doesn’t, I’ve heard him share this scripture, but when Andrew makes a decision, and believes God for something, you can’t talk him out of it. And one reason is, you know what? He has a good conscience towards God. And the reason that he has so much confidence, is because he’s not going out and doing things that violate his relationship with God. And I don’t wanna do anything personally, that violates my relationship with God. When I do that, what happens, he says in verse 22, in verse 21, “If our heart condemn us not, we have confidence toward God.” And then in verse 22, “What whatever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” Now, Aaron’s been talking about we don’t have to please the world. I’ve been talking about all we really need to please is God. Amen. But when you live to please God, and keep a good conscience towards God, did you know what? You’re gonna have great faith towards God. And the devil, and the world, and all these other people aren’t gonna be able to talk you out of it, and you’re not really gonna give a rip about what they think. He goes on in verse 23 and 24, and talks about the two New Testament commands. Number one, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And number two, he talks about this: “And love one another as he gave us commandment.” Friends, at the end of the broadcast, I’m gonna be back to pray with everyone. I want to invite you to stay tuned. But if you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, if you have never believed on Jesus, or if you’re being challenged in your relationships, I want to invite you to call us right now. We have trained prayer ministers that are here, that are ready, that are waiting to receive your call. So thanks so much for tuning in. Take advantage of the product this week. We have great product, and we have much more available to you. Take advantage of these things. They will help you as you grow in your relationship with God through Christ. Again, if you need prayer, give us a call. We’re here waiting to receive your calls. Blessings.

 

  When you know Jesus, and experience his incredible love for you, you will know who you truly are. You’ll understand the anointing that’s in you, and you’ll realize that you’re part of God’s great family. You can come home to him today, through the person of Jesus. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of “First John: A Relationship with God.” A $21 value free of charge. Download your copy today, at the CharisChristianCenter.com.

 

  Friends, I want to thank you for being with us today. It’s our pleasure to share with you the word of God. We believe it changes lives. And because of that, we’re broadcasting all around the world. It costs me right now, around $2 million a year just for my staff, and paying for our broadcast costs. But if you wanna become a partner, and help us share the message all around the world, we would love to hear from you today. Friend, we don’t want to leave this broadcast today, without giving you the opportunity to pray, and surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that Jesus died for my sins. I believe that you raised him from the dead on the third day, and made him Lord. And I surrender my life to you in Jesus’ name.

 

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