1 JOHN 2:3-11 - The Only Hope for Sexual Sinners

Introduction

Last Monday, the Canadian Parliament amended the national Criminal Code to include a new law that imposes up to five years in prison for any individual who “promotes or advertises conversion therapy” or who “causes another person to undergo conversion therapy”. Conversion therapy is defined as “a practice, treatment or service designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual... change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth; repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behavior… or repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth.”

Canadian pastor Andrew DeBartolo writes in a letter shared by Pastor John MacArthur:

The definition is intentionally broad, and it can clearly be used against any preacher or elder who either speaks against homosexuality/transgenderism or who counsels a person to obey Christ and abandon their homosexual/transgender actions and lifestyle. This means as of January 8, 2022, it will be against the law to preach, teach, or counsel regarding God’s design for marriage and sexuality…

He goes on to write:

On January 16, 2022, faithful men across this country (and many in the United States as well) will be preaching on God’s design for marriage and a biblical ethic of sexuality. We will be doing so illegally, declaring to the State that there is one God and one Lord over His church, and that Christ alone gets to both define marriage and dictate what is required in the pulpit. We are honored that our American brothers will be joining us in this. (John MacArthur, Retrieved 01/05/2022 from https://www.gracechurch.org/news/posts/2307)

Here in the United States, we are not quite so far down the road our Canadian brothers and sisters are, but we can see them from here. Several states, including New York, California, Nevada and New Jersey, have already passed laws banning “conversion therapy”, opening the doors for suing a church or pastor who declares the Biblical message that gay, lesbian and transgender individuals can repent, believe the Gospel, obey Christ and abandon their sinful and destructive actions and lifestyle.

And so, in solidarity with our faithful brothers in Canada and the faithful congregations they minister to, this morning we will join them to "confront, in a spirit of love and mercy, the damning sins legalized in our culture, and... proclaim the gospel of salvation that is now criminalized” in Canada. (MacArthur, ibid).

Our text this morning speaks directly to the situation our Canadian brothers find themselves in:

1 John 2:3 (ESV)

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

These faithful pastors are keeping Christ’s commandment to “make disciples of Canada, teaching them to obey all that He has commanded” (Matt. 28:19-20)—they have assurance that they have come to know Him, because they are teaching what Jesus taught, they are faithfully proclaiming the message that we proclaim today as well:

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY HOPE to save SEXUAL SINNERS

One of the first objections we must address as we take up this subject is the false and misleading statement that “Jesus never spoke about homosexuality”. The objection says that while the Old Testament was full of “hateful and bigoted” attitudes, such as prescribing the death penalty for homosexual behavior in Leviticus 20:13:

Leviticus 20:13 (ESV)

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

that Jesus never repeated this condemnation. And so the attempt is made to separate Jesus’ teaching from the Old Testament, that He did not say that homosexuality or any of its related sins was wrong.

But to say that is to ignore Jesus’ attitude towards the Law of Moses. He says clearly in Matthew 5:17-18:

Matthew 5:17–18 (ESV)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Jesus affirmed and endorsed every last stroke of the Law of Moses—every “jot and tittle of the Law” as the King James so memorably puts it. Every last word of Moses’ Law—including the law that calls homosexual behavior an abomination and demands its perpetrators be executed—Jesus openly endorsed. If Jesus Christ were preaching in Canada this morning and said that He completely and totally endorsed and upheld every word of the Old Testament Law (including the abomination of homosexual behavior), He would be culpable under the Canadian Criminal Code. And His faithful followers are today take seriously John’s words in our text:

1 John 2:6 (ESV)

whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

But that is not all, is it? It is not just that Jesus is “on the record” endorsing the Old Testament Law’s characterization of homosexual sin as abominable and worthy of death. Because as we have seen repeatedly through our study of 1 John, Jesus is the God Man, fully divine and fully human. Which means that He did not just endorse the Law of Moses, He authored it. He is the Eternal Creator God, YHWH Himself, the One Who made His covenant with His people Israel. He is Himself the One who has authoritatively spoken His will regarding sexual identity, roles and conduct. He spoke His righteous commands in the Old Testament, and as we will see shortly He spoke unequivocally about sexual morality in the Gospels as well.

And so we start with this foundational truth:

Jesus Christ AFFIRMS in the New Testament the BOUNDARIES of sexual morality that He ESTABLISHED in the Old Testament

With this context in mind, then, it becomes clear as we read our text this morning:

I. Don’t say you KNOW CHRIST if you WALK in sexual sin (1 John 2:3-6; Matt. 19:4-9)

Look at verses 3-6:

1 John 2:3–6 (ESV)

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Both in the Old Testament that He established and affirmed, and in the New Testament where He taught clearly and plainly about His will for sexual morality, Jesus Christ has made His commandments clear. And so when you ignore or flout or disdain or despise His will in this regard,

You are not KEEPING His COMMANDMENTS (Matthew 19:4-9)

Turn with me to Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 19 (it’s on page 824 if you’re using the pew Bible). In this chapter Jesus is responding to the Jewish religious leaders’ attempts to catch Him in a theological trap, asking Him about His views on divorce. As part of His response, Jesus not only answers their question, but He also clearly and effectively addresses every element of the various types of sexual rebellion that we see around us today. Look at verses 4-9:

Matthew 19:4–9 (ESV)

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Jesus taught that there are only two genders— “He who created them from the beginning made them male and female). Those who insist that “gender” is a “spectrum” of nearly-unlimited possibilities, as well as those who claim that they can change from one sex to another as “transgender” individuals are rebelling against God’s design.

Jesus taught that the structure of a family is to be “a father and a mother”: ‘(“…a man shall leave his father and mother....”) - Those who claim that a family can be any combination of any group of people that they wish—two daddies, two mommies, etc., are rebelling against God’s design. Children are meant by God to have a father and a mother. (And for those of you who have had the role of a single parent forced on you because of the fallen world we live in, you know firsthand how much better God’s design of a father and a mother together is than the state you are in now, don’t you?)

See here also that Jesus taught that one man shall leave his father and mother and marry one woman. Gay marriage, lesbian marriage, bisexual marriage, group marriage and any other so-called “marriage” that our rebellious culture claims to invent is not marriage at all. Any definition of marriage outside of one man marrying one woman is rebellion against God’s design.

Jesus taught that marriage is to be reserved for one man and one woman—and that marriage is meant to last for life: “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate”. The so-called “serial monogamy” of our culture, of multiple marriages and divorces throughout one’s lifetime is a rebellion against God’s design.

Jesus taught that any sexual activity outside of marriage is "immorality”—it is a cancellation of the marriage covenant, that frees a person to divorce a spouse guilty of sexual activity outside the bonds of their marriage. Any sexual activity that takes place outside or alongside the bonds of the marriage covenant is rebellion against God’s design.

You cannot say that you know Christ if you are not keeping His commandments regarding sexual morality. you cannot say that you know Christ if you walk in sexual sin, because to do so means that

You are not WALKING in His WAY (1 John 2:5-6)

1 John 2:5–6 (ESV)

but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

You cannot say that you know Christ, or that you belong to Him in salvation, if you consistently and continually by the pattern of your life oppose and repudiate what He says. You cannot, in short, call yourself a “Christian” if you insist on walking the opposite direction that Christ did—calling beautiful what He calls abominable, claiming that He was silent where He spoke plainly, denying what He affirms and defending what He denounces.

You cannot say you know Christ if you walk in sexual sin. And in verses 7-11 of 1 John 2, you are warned:

II. Don’t say you LOVE OTHERS if you AFFIRM their sexual sin (1 John 2:7-11)

Look at verses 7-8 with me:

1 John 2:7–8 (ESV)

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

When John says that he is writing an “old commandment that you had from the beginning”, he is referring to Jesus’ commandment to love one another:

John 13:34 (ESV)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

John goes on to say that loving your brother is a sign that you are walking in the light with Christ, but hating your brother means that you are walking in the darkness apart from Christ:

1 John 2:9–11 (ESV

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Much of what we have already proclaimed in these verses—that Jesus Christ has clearly commanded His will regarding sexual morality, and that the homosexual and transgender lifestyle and behavior is an abomination in His sight—will be immediately branded “hate speech” by those who are in the midst of sexual rebellion against God.

But if what we have said about Christ’s commands for sexual morality are true—and they are—then it is not “hateful” to warn people of the consequences of their rebellion! Who is being loving in this matter? The one who tells a sexual rebel that God loves and accepts them and that there is nothing wrong or sinful about their behavior? Or the one who pleads with them to turn away from the path they are on before the wrath of God descends upon them for their abominable behavior?

If you consider yourself an “advocate” for LGBTQ rights, if you loudly and defiantly proclaim that the Bible’s warnings against sexual sin are “hate speech”, then the Scriptures say that you do not love gay people,

You are CAUSING them to STUMBLE (vv. 9-10)

If I told a new driver that the best thing to do on I-80 in an ice storm would be to drive as fast as possible, follow as close as possible to tractor trailers and slam on the brakes whenever you got too close, would you think I loved them? In the same way, telling someone--even someone you care about--that God approves of their sexual rebellion or that He “made them that way” or that Jesus never taught about sexual morality is confirming them in their rebellion against God, condemning them to suffer His wrath against their sexual rebellion. Telling them God accepts them when they are children of wrath, that they are His friends when He is set against them, is to functionally hate them.

Do not say that proclaiming the Gospel of grace and forgiveness for sexual sin in the Name of Jesus Christ is “hate speech”—the real hatred is coming from you who are lulling sexual sinners into a false sense of security that will lead to their eternal suffering in agony under the wrath of God in Hell. You are causing them to stumble, and

You are LOSING your WAY (v. 11b; cp. John 14:23)

If you represent Christ in such a way as to deny what He teaches, if you evidence your hatred for sexual sinners by deceiving them into greater and greater sin against His commandments, then you have been blinded by darkness, and you are losing your way:

1 John 2:11 (ESV)

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Jesus says in John 14:23,

John 14:23 (ESV)

“...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.

Friend, you may be proud of your Christian convictions, you may think that you are being “loving” and “brave” and “compassionate” in supporting the sexual rebellion of our age. But if you do not keep Christ’s word in this matter, you have no assurance that you belong to Christ. If you refuse to keep His clear word regarding sexual rebellion. If you insist on affirming what He condemns and denying that there is punishment awaiting those who pursue these things, then you have no warrant for saying that God loves you or that Christ dwells in you. You are blinded, you do not know where you are going, and you are losing your way.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope to save sexual sinners. Do not say that you know Christ if you walk in sexual sin. Do not say that you love others because you affirm their sexual sin.

But if all this sermon does is warn about the consequences of sexual rebellion and expose the hypocrisy of those who say they love their LGBTQ friends but are actually hating them in the lies they tell about God’s commands, this wouldn’t be a Gospel sermon, would it? But here is the precious, blood-bought, hope-filled, grace-saturated Good News for everyone mired in sexual rebellion this morning:

III. Don’t say that you cannot be WASHED and SANCTIFIED from sexual sin (1 Cor. 6:9-11)

Turn with me to the passage that we read earlier in our worship—1 Corinthians 6 (page 955 in the pew Bible). Look again at verses 9-11. There we read:

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 (ESV)

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul clearly and directly repeats the same sexual ethic that Jesus Himself taught—that those who practice sexual immorality and homosexuality (among other sins), have no part in salvation. But the great shining light of Gospel-hope bursts from the page in the next six words:

“And such WERE some of you!”

In other words, it is possible to completely and utterly leave that sin behind! The world would have you believe that your sexual habits and inclinations are utterly fixed and permanent; they are hard-wired into you, and you cannot change, even if you want to. (This is why any attempt to “convert” or fundamentally alter a person’s sexual inclinations are considered to be so cruel and futile). But God’s Word says something very different, doesn’t it? Paul says that some of the members of the Body of Christ in Corinth used to be homosexual, they used to be swindlers, used to be fornicators or idolators or drunkards—but not anymore! They have been washed from those sins by the blood of Christ shed for them, they have been made holy by His Name and His Spirit, and they are free from those sins! This is the Good News—this is the hope that you can be free from homosexual, lesbian, transgender, queer, genderfluid (and whatever other) impulses and desires. Those sins can be put away!

And in fact, it is important to understand that believers can still struggle with temptations to homosexuality, etc., and still be a Christian. God may completely release you from those temptations, or in His providence He may allow you to continue to fight with that besetting sin for the rest of your days. But either way, see here that that identity is in the past--

There is no COMPROMISE with sexual sin

There is a temptation among many Christians who struggle with this kind of sexual sin to identify themselves as “gay Christians”. They say that they have repented of their sin, they do not act on those temptations, but they still identify themselves as “gay”, that their homosexuality is in some way a fundamental part of who they are as a person.

But if you follow that logic by considering Paul’s words here in 1 Corinthians 6, you begin to see that this idea doesn’t wash. Take that same logic: “This sinful pattern is so much a part of who I am, I need to identify myself in terms of it”. Look at the sins listed in verse 9 and try to do the same thing: “I am a sexually immoral Christian...” “I am an adulterer Christian...” “I am a thief Christian...” “I am a swindler Christian...”

I hope you see how ludicrous that is? Paul says that when you come to Christ, that sinful identity is never, ever a part of who you are in any way. Saying that there are some sins that are so pervasive that they are an essential part of you is to say that there are some sins that the blood of Christ cannot fully erase. And so the best you can do is limp along and try to minimize how often you indulge that sin, that you just have to “live with” that sin and find a way to co-exist with it.

Beloved, to say that is to deny the Gospel. To give up and say there’s no getting away from that sin is to abdicate your call to fight it. And as we remind ourselves of the words of John Owen, “Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness—who does not walk over the bellies of his lusts. He who does not kill sin in this way—takes no steps toward his journey's end.”

And so if you say that you know Christ, then you will fight that sin for the rest of your life. Give no quarter, never give up, never make your peace with it, and never ever define yourself by it. You are not a “gay Christian”, you are a Christian. And like every other Christian, you hate your sin, you fight it, you never quit killing it, you never, ever give it a chance. If you trip up, you get back up off the mat and learn from it, and in the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in you, you wade back in because you know that this battle—like every other—belongs to the LORD!

This is the Gospel declared to you who are mired in sexual sin—you can be washed clean from it by the blood of Christ, you can be made holy by the Name of Christ bestowed on you, and you can fight for that holiness by the Spirit of God that dwells in you. There is no compromise with sexual sin, and

There is no CONDEMNATION over sexual sin (Romans 8:1)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope to save sexual sinners—when you come to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith and call on Him to deliver you from the penalty and power of your sin by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection to save you,

Romans 8:1 (ESV)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You are totally and completely justified! He does not look on you and say, “I see what you are now, but I remember what you used to be!” He doesn’t look on you as a “second-class Christian”, He doesn’t push you aside or disqualify you or treat you with suspicion and judgment. You are utterly and totally justified in His sight through Jesus Christ!

And friend, if God Himself treats you that way, then so do His people! If there is no condemnation coming from God over your past, then neither is there condemnation coming from His people! Even if there are other consequences that arise from the destructiveness of your past; legal issues, health issues, relationship issues, mental health issues, whatever they may be—the body of believers gathered in the Name of Christ in His church are the way that Jesus loves you and walks with you through all of those issues! You are not permanently labeled “damaged goods” because of your past—your label reads exactly the same as every other believer: Washed, Sanctified and Justified Child of God!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope for sexual sinners--there is no sexual rebellion that you can be guilty of that cannot be utterly, completely and permanently forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ! This Gospel forgives and heals gay and lesbian sinners, this Gospel heals and forgives transgender sinners, this Gospel heals and forgives child molesters, this Gospel heals and forgives adulterers, this Gospel heals and forgives couples having sex outside of marriage, this Gospel heals and forgives porn users, this Gospel heals and forgives divorcees, this Gospel heals and forgives the ones who fantasize about sex with a coworker, this Gospel heals and forgives prostitutes and their customers, this Gospel heals and forgives every kind of sexual sin.

So stop denying your sinful sexual behavior for what it is—it is not a “lifestyle choice”, it is not “your truth”, it is not “freedom and equality”. It is sin and rebellion, and it is storing up for you destruction in this life and the wrath of God for all eternity. Don’t say you know Christ when you walk in sexual sin. Don’t say you love others if you affirm their sexual sin. And don’t say that you are a lost cause because of your sexual sin! Turn away from your sexual sin today, bring it all to the foot of the Cross and leave it there. Look to the One who took all of your punishment on Himself, the One Who suffered the wrath of God over your sexual rebellion so that you could be spared from it, and call on His Name for the washing, sanctifying and justifying that only He can provide. Whatever you have done, whatever you have been, whatever has been done to you, you can be free of all of it. So come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Is it true that “Jesus never spoke against homosexuality?” Where would you turn in the Bible to demonstrate Jesus’ teaching on sexual morality? What is Jesus’ relationship to the Old Testament Law of Moses?

Read 1 John 2:10-11 again. What do these verses teach about someone who rejects Christ’s commandments about sexual morality and encourages others in their sexual sin?

Read through 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. What does Paul say in verse 11 about the relationship of Christians with their former identities? What is the difference between the consequences of past sexual sin and condemnation for past sexual sin? (Hint: Read Romans 8:1.) How do these verses teach you to relate to your past? Spend time this week praising God for the forgiveness you have in Christ!