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Between the 1st and the
2nd Coming of ChristIt is a new year and, though it is not technically correct to say so, it
is the beginning of a new millennium. I spent quite a bit of time in my
office cleaning up (or rather cleaning out when my wife helped). There
were warranties of items that had long been broken and thrown away. Receipts
for things we had forgotten we had (because we didn't have them anymore).
And there were so many piles of stuff -- some of it useful, some of it
I can not for the life of me figure out why I saved, and most of it just
not organized where it could be used. And, "achoo!", lots of dust
had to be removed as well.
Spiritually, it is a good thing to take a few moments to clean up and
organize your life. In our Scripture passage, the Apostle John presents
some old but amazing truths about the work of Jesus Christ, some marvelous
truths about the future, and also some very practical teaching about our
life in between. Spiritually, it is time to do a little new year's cleaning
up, organizing, and refocusing. This will allow your life to be used to
the maximum capacity that Jesus Christ had given to you.
Scripture Passage: 1
John 2:28-3:10
Main Thought:
Until Jesus returns, He has called every Christian to reveal His righteousness
to the world.
- At the first coming of Christ, Jesus redeemed us so that we could be children
of God.
- At the second coming of Christ, Jesus will glorify us so that we may be
with Him in glory.
- In between these times, Christians are to manifest to the world the righteousness
of Jesus Christ.
(5) And you know that He was manifested
to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin... (8) He who sins is
of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose
the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil...
(1) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should
be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because
it did not know Him. (1 John 3:5,8,1, NKJV)
1. At the first coming of Christ, Jesus redeemed us so that we could be
children of God.What a wonderful way to begin the new year by pondering what our LORD Jesus
Christ accomplished in His earthly ministry! The Apostle John points out
three specific things that Jesus accomplished on His mission of redemption:
to take away our sins, to destroy the work of the devil, and to make us
children of God. Only God in the flesh, our LORD Jesus Christ, could accomplish
such a mission.
- This is a mission that the Mission Impossible
team would find impossible.
- This is a mission where even James Bond would
fail to return.
- This is a mission that Superman would have to
say,
"Sorry!"
- Yes, this is a mission that would overwhelm Underdog.
"He was manifested to take away our sins" (1 John
3:5, NKJV). Jesus Christ manifested Himself
-- revealed Himself -- as He came to this earth to put an end to sin, specifically
the penalty of sin which is eternal death -- separation from God forever.
His death, as the Apostle John puts it, was "the
propitiation [atoning sacrifice] for our sins, and not for ours only but
also for the whole world" (1 John 2:2, NKJV).
This propitiation totally satisfied God's wrath, righteous anger because
of our sin against Him, so that through Christ our sins are taken away.
When you put your faith and trust in the LORD Jesus Christ believing He
died for YOUR sins and rose from the grave victorious over death, your
sins are forgiven. God has forgiven you, not on the basis of anything you
do, but on the basis of what Jesus Christ did for you. As the old Christmas
card said, "He came to pay a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt
we could not pay."
"The Son of God was manifested, that He might
destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8, NKJV).
Jesus Christ also revealed Himself in this world to destroy the work of
the devil. What work is this that Jesus destroyed? We seem to see a lot
of work in this world attributable to the devil, work that is quite evil
and wicked. The first part of this verse explains, "He
who sins is of the devil" ( 1 John 3:8, NKJV).
All sin, no matter how large or how small in our eyes, is of the devil.
It is a participation with the devil, the one who was the first to sin.
And it is he who tempted Adam and Eve to participate with him in sin. All
sin is not caused by the devil -- but all sin is of the devil in that it
makes one who sins a participant on the side of evil. John seems to be
driving home a couple of important points here:
- Call your sin what it really is (of the devil) so
that you can properly confess it (agree with God).
- Don't confuse or rationalize your sin. Some try to
deny that what they are doing is really sinful or that it is all that bad.
All sin is of the devil and it is bad.
Do you compromise your faith by "little sins?" Jesus
came to destroy the work of the devil by giving you power over the forces
of darkness, power that is yours under the authority of our LORD Jesus
Christ. Don't confuse or compromise your life of faith with sin, even "little
sins." Sin is agreement with the devil, totally against the work of Christ,
and His work was to destroy the work of the devil.
"that we should be called children of God!" (1
John 3:1, NKJV) Jesus Christ manifest Himself
in this world, not just to forgive our sins and destroy the work of the
devil, but to make you a child of God. He made the way for you to become
a part of the family of God. To "as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those
who believe in His name" (John 1:12, NKJV).
When you put your faith and trust in the LORD Jesus Christ, you become
a permanent fixture in God's family. You may think of yourself as the "black
sheep" of the family, but your family. As Pastor and author Tony Evans
once said, "Family is that one place that when you go there they have to
take you in -- because you're family." I hope your family works that way.
That certainly is the way God's family works. Through the person and work
of His Son, Jesus Christ, you can become a part of God's family forever.
How great a love the Father has shown us, indeed!
So the first coming of Christ accomplished His
work of redemption. He also established His "family" with the power to
overcome the work of the devil. Why did God do this?
"For
God so loved the world..." (John 3:16, NKJV)
(28) And now, little children,
abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed
before Him at His coming...(2) Beloved, now we are children of God; and
it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He
is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John
2:28;3:2, NKJV)
2. At the second coming of Christ, Jesus will glorify us so that we may
be with Him in glory.What will the second coming of Christ be like? Numerous passages of Scripture
testify that Jesus will return "on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:30, NKJV; ref. Mark 13:26,
Luke 21:27), "with ten thousands of His saints"
(Jude 1:14, NKJV), and "every eye will
see Him, even they who pierced Him" (Rev. 1:7, NKJV). His second
coming will fully reveal His deity to the whole world. There will be no
mistakes, no denying His glory for it will be fully revealed at His second
coming. The first time He came as a suffering servant. The second time
He will come as a conquering King.
What will you do when Jesus returns? Will it be a time of great joy
for you, or great fear? The Apostle John writes that Christians should
"abide
in Him [Jesus Christ], that when He appears we may have confidence and
not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (1 John 2:28, NKJV). So
there will be an exposing of your life in the light of His glory. He will
radiate His holiness, righteousness, and truth to the whole world. Your
life will bask in that great light. Your life will be exposed. Thus, John
commands us to abide in Christ so that when He returns He will expose a
righteous life, one in which you can have confidence. There is no shame
when you follow Christ. Shame is only the result of following your own
desires or the desires of others; shame is the result of sin. Abiding in
Christ, according to John in this epistle, means holding onto and living
out the truth you learn from Scripture (1 John 2:24,2:27b).
Secondly, John tells us that Christians will be changed at the second
coming of Christ for "when He is revealed, we shall
be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2, NKJV).
When Jesus returns in power and glory, He will change all of God's children
so that they can be with Him in glory. Today, in these bodies of flesh
with a sin nature, we cannot survive the presence of God. The Apostle Paul
writes: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit
incorruption" (1 Cor. 15:50, NKJV). But when
Jesus returns, He will glorify our bodies so that we will be able to stand
in His presence. We will have a new body that will last forever. As Paul
describes:
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed -- in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead
will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Cor.
15:51-53, NKJV) No more pain, no more weariness, no more sin, no
more traffic, no more physical deformities or infirmities of any kind.
We will all be changed -- all who have trusted in the LORD Jesus Christ
as
their Savior. All those who love and long for His return will be changed!
Knowing this is intense motivation for living from the One who possesses
life (John 1:4) and imparts life to those who believe (John 3:16).
3. In between these times, Christians are to manifest to the world the
righteousness of Jesus Christ.With this kind of motivation, every Christian is called
to
live our lives in a worthy manner (Eph. 4:1-3) that glorifies our LORD.
What do we need to concentrate on until Jesus returns? John has already
indicated that we should "abide in Him" (1
John 2:28 NKJV). What other things will the
imminent return of our LORD Jesus Christ motivate us to do?
Purify: And everyone
who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John
3:3, NKJV). To purify yourself means to put
away those things in your life that do not reflect your true identify in
Christ. It means that you will be the same outside as you are on the inside.
Inside, you are born again, forgiven, a child of God. Your life reflect
that truth as you actively work to purify it, to bring it in one accord
with Jesus Christ. John goes on to write:
(4) Whoever commits sin also commits
lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness... (6) Whoever abides in Him
does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him... (9) Whoever
has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he
cannot sin, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:4,6,9,NKJV)
To purify your life you must turn from sin. One who
is truly born again will not continue in sin but turn from it through the
mercy of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. You can recognize a pig by the
pig trough in which he lives. But God's seed remains in the Christian and
the Christian will not remain in the pig trough. The Christian will turn
from sin, trusting Almighty God to provide the grace to say "NO!" to sin.
Practice: (29) If
you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness
is born of Him...(7) Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. (1 John
2:29;3:7, NKJV). Practice involves repeated
use of what your have learned.
- If you are a baseball player, you practice hitting,
fielding, throwing, and running -- the things you learned from the coach.
- If you play a musical instrument, you practice
reading the musical notes and playing them in the most pleasing manner
you can.
Practice denotes repetition, building up, and extending
out. Practice also involves failure. The golfer, Lee Trevino, denounced
the old saying, "practice makes perfect." According to Trevino, "perfect
practice makes perfect." What he meant was that you had to practice what
you learned, learn from your mistakes, and press on. That is "perfect practice."
John relates this concept to the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. He demonstrated righteousness -- absolute righteousness
-- in a fallen world. Can you do that? No, you will fall short as we all
will fall short. Should we give up and live like the devil? No, for sin
is of the devil not of Christ. In fact, John says, "In
this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever
does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love
his brother. (1 John 3:10, NKJV). Rather than
give up, you should practice. Demonstrate His righteousness as best you
can to the fallen world in which we live. Demonstrate His love as best
you can to the people in your circle of influence, both the godly and the
ungodly. When you fall short, know that our loving Father has not, will
not, and can not abandon you but will love you in your triumphs and love
you in your failures. And He will take special delight when you take note
of how and why you failed in practicing His righteousness and learn from
it. God will empower you by His Spirit to grow in grace, in knowledge,
and in the pursuit of His righteousness in this world.
Reflect on YOUR Life:Is there a clear distinction in your life between sin and righteousness?
Are you practicing the righteousness of Christ in this world or just coasting
along until He returns? John writes some very stark contrasts between those
who sin (of the devil) and those who practice righteousness (because He
is righteous). You cannot make God love you or accept you into heaven because
you pursue righteousness -- you are not that good! Rather, by accepting
the righteousness of Jesus Christ who died for your sins, you find the
motivation and the direction to practice that which He gave to you. And
when He returns, you can look up with great joy.
Copyright 1999, Randy Lariscy.
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