The Next Awakening Part 7 - Righteousness

Today is September 12, 2021. One day after the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Yesterday, I saw many people sharing where they were when they found out what happened. I was going to share where I was, but wouldn’t be a good use of our time this morning. Let’s all agree that after 9/11, the world changed.

Things are changing in our world once more and I thought maybe I would do a message geared toward these events and what happened 20 years ago and what is happening now. Instead, the Lord guided me to a truth that is as good today as it was yesterday, as it was 20 years ago and will be just as good in the years ahead…that truth is the Gospel.

The truth is, we don’t need to be more patriotic. We need to be more excited about our eternal citizenship. We don’t need a hoorah, motivational speech, we need the truth of God’s word. Did you know that attendance in Sunday morning church services increased immediately following 9/11? It would make sense. People were searching for answers.

Did you know that church attendance in November was no different than just 2 months prior? Why? I am not 100% sure about this, but I wonder if people coming to churches looking for hope found that hope in the messages they heard. Did they hear God’s Word proclaimed, or just a Christian speaking on world events? Don’t get me wrong, we need Christians speaking out on world events. We need Christian thought expressed in our government. We need believers standing up for what we believe, but this morning, during this time together we need something else.

Like I said, I was tempted to give you my thoughts, my opinion, my experience, my ideas, but honestly they don’t matter as much as what God’s Word tells us.

The last two weeks, we took a pause on our series of messages out of 1 John titled The Next Awakening. The pause was certainly worth it. Hearing the testimonies of Teen Challenge and Bob last week was exactly what was needed. The testimonies from all of you in how you were touched and encouraged confirmed that.

While you turn your Bibles to 1 John 3, I’d like to review what that Jonathan Edwards wrote concerning the signs of true revival:

When esteem for the true Jesus is raised

When Satan’s kingdom is attacked (sin and worldly lusts)

When people come to love Scripture more

When men are led away from falsehood to truth (sound doctrine)

When there is an increase of love to God and man

Edwards was right in the middle of the preaching that happened during what is labeled as the first great awakening. Ten to twenty thousand people came to Christ in New England during this time. It started with revival in the churches and then spread to awakening of the culture around them.

That is my prayer for us. That revival would start in each one of us and from there revival would break out in our churches and then the culture would be awakened to the truth of God’s Word and the good news of Jesus.

I want to read the text we covered last time, provide a quick recap and then dive into the text for today. Let’s read starting in 1 John 2:28

1 John 2:28–3:3 NIV

28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

The word to us last time was telling us to purify ourselves. Purification starts with knowing that we are not pure and are in need of purification. Confession is that start. 1 John 1:9 says this:

1 John 1:9 NIV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Ask we continue the passage today, we’ll see how we move forward after being purified from all unrighteousness - Righteous living.

Before I read this next passage, I want to remind us of the context of this letter. If we don’t have the context, we might take something from this passage that it is not saying.

John is writing this letter to believers who are dealing with some in their midst that John calls anti-Christs. They did not believe in the deity of Christ, that He is God, nor did they believe in the resurrection. In other words, they were taking some of the teachings of Christ and sounded like believers in some areas, but were really trying to deceive. When John speaks of those who are continuing to sin, he is talking about those who justify their sin as ok. Without this context, might question our own salvation, but we need to remember…John is contrasting those who are in Christ to those who are not. Those who are not in Christ are not repentant, they don’t seek righteousness and purity...

With that said, let’s read our passage for today

1 John 3:4–10 NIV

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Vs 4 - I think we can all agree on this. We are all law breakers. Sin is ignoring the law and doing what we please no matter what.

Vs 5 - John talks then about the work of Christ. He has taken away our sins. In contrast to what others were falsely teaching, John reiterates…there is no sin in Christ.

Vs 6-9 If not for the context of this verses, we might begin to question whether we ever knew Jesus, because sin is still an issue as long as we are in these bodies. John is differentiating between believers and those who are preaching something contrary to the gospel. As a believer, we don’t justify sin and keep doing it. We certainly don’t encourage others in sinning either.

There is a difference here in the willful continual sin patterns and finding ourselves subject to the same sin over and over that we come repentant before God about.

Here are a few questions to ask about our sin:

Am I making excuses for my sin? - Blame others

Have I justified my sin - said that sin is ok?

Use the logic - it doesn’t matter Jesus will forgive me anyway.

This is what John is talking about that was happening. There were those who called themselves one thing, but preached and taught something else.

Here is a healthier approach to sin:

Do I feel remorse? Conviction? - Lord, forgive me.

Do I recognize my sin as not being ok? - Lord help me recognize my sin and label it as sin.

Am I cavalier with my forgiveness? Do I recognize that my sin cost Jesus something? - Lord help me see what it cost you.

Let’s read verse 9 again...

1 John 3:9 NIV

9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

A born again experience results in change. Are you different as a result of Christ in you? Not perfect…different. There is a reaction that we have when we sin and have Christ in us. It’s like an allergic reaction.

I had a doctor tell me once that when he turned 40, he became lactose intolerant and couldn’t drink his chocolate milk after his bike rides any more, but he really, really liked chocolate milk. His body had an adverse reaction when drinks it now.

If you have Christ in you, do you have an adverse reaction when you sin? Sometimes the reaction can be delayed. That adverse reaction is called conviction. The proper response to conviction is confession and repentance.

The natural, fleshly response is defensiveness, justification, blaming others and excuses.

Finally verse 10...

1 John 3:10 NIV

10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

How will we tell the difference? By whether we do the right thing. This doesn’t mean being perfect. Sin is wrong. Period. What do we do with our sin is the key. Do we hide it, justify it, explain it away, make it seem ok? That’s wrong. That is someone who is not God’s child according to this verse. Confessing our sin, seeking forgiveness, repenting of that sin is doing what is right.

Verse 10 finishes by say that anyone who does not love their brother or sister is a child of the devil.

Love does not mean we agree with everything about a person, what they’ve said, done, believe…but love is part of being a child of God.

Let’s put up the list of the signs of true revival:

When esteem for the true Jesus is raised

When Satan’s kingdom is attacked (sin and worldly lusts)

When people come to love Scripture more

When men are led away from falsehood to truth (sound doctrine)

When there is an increase of love to God and man

Church, if we want revival, we have to attack sin. Not the sin in the life of others…our own sin. We have to be serious about sin in our lives. The most effective way to thwart the plans of the enemy is to pursue holiness and righteousness in our lives.

Can we get commited to that? Can we commit to addressing our sin, bringing it to light, confessing, repenting and asking for forgiveness? If you are holding on to secret sin, it will come to light. It’s only a matter of time. Will you chose to deal with it on your time or let it come to light at the most inconvenient time?

Prayer