Abiding in Christ for His Se..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, brothers and sisters and friends. Once again, it's a great privilege to have you worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ with us.

As I said, I want to speak to you from verse 28, in which we have this very clear instruction that the Apostle John has given to the church. A very short verse, and as you can see, a very powerful verse. The Apostle John is calling these little children to abide in Him. That Him is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason why we Christians are to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ is so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

Last week, by God's grace, I wanted to emphasize the truth that Christians are supposed to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. And brethren, please remember that I have said to you not only last week, but many times we've had said from this pulpit, Christianity is absolutely nothing without abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have absolutely nothing if our life is not characterized by our fellowship and genuine communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. That abiding in Him is experiential in nature. Yes, we have been united to Christ by grace through faith.

We have been united in one spirit according to 1 Corinthians 6. But the life of the Christian, practically speaking, is one to be one of abiding in Christ. And the way that we abide in Christ is very clear, according to the Scriptures. 1 John 2, verse 24, Let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

We are to abide in the message of the gospel that we heard from the beginning. If you want to have a powerful, mighty, living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and with the Father, you are to let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you the gospel of love, that He loved us first and He gave Himself for our salvation. Not only the message of the gospel according to 1 John 2, verse 24, but also the Scriptures, the Word of God. If you abide in Me, My words abide in you, then you will prove that you are My disciples, John 8 and John 15. The Word of the Lord is supposed to abide in you.

You are supposed to have a genuine fellowship and relationship with the Lord through the Scriptures. There's no such a thing as a Christian who is abiding in the Lord, who is not abiding in the Scriptures. Our lives depend on constantly meditating upon the Gospel, constantly having a relationship with the Lord through the Scriptures, And as we also said, we are to abide in the love of God through prayer. 1 John 4 and Jude 1, verse 20. Building yourselves up in your most holy faith.

You are to pray in the Holy Spirit that you will keep yourself in the love of God. If you are going to have a genuine relationship presently with Christ, you are not only to remember the gospel, to abide in the words of God, but also to pray, brother, sister, and younger believers, and children. Your life depends upon the gospel, the scriptures, and praying in the Holy Spirit according to His will. But not only that, John chapter 15, we are to obey His commandments. If you obey My commandments, you will abide in My love."

The Lord Jesus Christ says in John 15. Obedience. There is no such a thing as a genuine relationship presently with the Lord Jesus Christ if we are not obeying His commandments. And finally, I said last week, brother and sister and dear friend, that the way that we presently commune with the Lord Jesus Christ is in the context of the people of God, and the example that I gave last week was communion. If you have drank of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, spiritually speaking, and if you have eaten of the body of the Lord, spiritually speaking, you have been united to Christ.

You have been united also to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the church. And it's very important that if you are going to abide in Him, you will abide in the context of the church. Coming and being with the brothers and sisters and partaking of the Lord's table. Representing, symbolizing, and proclaiming your union with His body and in the new covenant through His blood. Abiding with Christ.

Necessity for the Christian and for every single person who professes to be in Christ. And now, as we can see here in verse 28, brethren, we are given the reason why we are to abide in Christ. And that reason is so that when He appears, the Lord Jesus Christ, we may have confidence and not be ashamed at His coming. So I'm going to invite you to read with me the context of this verse, as we usually do, 2, verse 15, all the way through chapter 3, verse 10. I want to speak to you about this important truth that we have there in verse 28.

So brethren, let us come and pay attention to the context of what we have there. And one thing I do ask, my dear brother and sister, first of all, that your reading will be reading by faith, that you pay attention to the things that we are reading. And secondly, and very importantly, please pay attention to verse 28 and see that the apostle How do I explain this? That the Apostle is primarily speaking to the generation of Christians upon whom the Second Coming will be. You see verse 28?

It says, "...and now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming." The Apostle John had this certainty that the coming of the Lord was taking place at this generation, the present generation. So, hence, he was speaking to that present generation with the idea and the certainty that the second coming of the Lord will happen in his lifetime, or at least for that generation. Now, this text applies to all Christians because every single current generation of Christians is supposed to live.

as if the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was going to take place in our generation. It is true that there are many generations of Christians behind us who have lived their lives, and the second coming of the Lord did not happen in their lifetimes. But every single Christian, when they are alive, this passage should be true for them. They are to abide in Christ as if the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was going to happen today or tomorrow. So, the piercing power of the Word of God transcends temporality and historical events and applies to every single Christian.

Every single Christian is to live with this reality that this is the end and we're living our times before the Lord in that way. Let us read then from verse 15, and I want you to see that this is what the Apostle has in mind. The passing away of the world and the eternity of the things of the Lord. This is the Word of the Lord. 1 John 2, verse 15, all the way through chapter 3, verse 10.

This is the Word of the Lord, reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. Verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. Children, little children, It is the last hour. And as you have heard, the Antichrist, that Antichrist is coming. So now, many Antichrists have come.

Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

Verse 24, therefore, some of you will have there, let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He made to us, eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you receive from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.

But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and it's true and it's not a lie, just as He has taught you, abide in Him." Verse 28, And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we might have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us. We should be called children of God, and so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who does hope in Him purifies himself, as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Amen. This is the reading of God's Word. And as I said, brethren, last week, I had the opportunity to emphasize the important reality of abiding in Christ. The commandment that we have in verse 28 of the instruction is very clear.

We have a commandment and we have a reason for the commandment. The part of the commandment, the exhortation of the instruction is that we will abide in Him. That Him is the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have spoken about the importance of abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. As you can see now there, clearly, the reason why the Christian is to abide, presently abide, in the Lord Jesus Christ is so that when He appears, we might have confidence and not be ashamed at His coming. Simple.

An instruction and the reason, this future reason for this commandment that is given. And as you can see there, my brother and sister, the commandment is not only clear, but it's also very confronting and even difficult to understand. How are we going to reconcile or understand that Christians, who by grace through faith have been united to the person of Jesus Christ, who in union with Christ are the object of the Father's love because of their union with Christ, How are we going to reconcile that those who are being preserved by God's power through faith, according to 1 Peter 1, verse 5, how are we going to reconcile that the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ can experience shame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? If we have verses in the Bible that speak of this experience of the Christian in the future as entering into the everlasting joy of the Lord. If Christians are considered to be these faithful servants who have been faithful with little and they will be given much and they will enter into the everlasting joy of the Father.

How are we going to reconcile that Christians, genuine believers, who are the object of the Father's love in union with Christ, are going to experience, according to the teaching of this verse here, shame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, I hope that you can see the complication and difficulty. There are passages of scriptures that speak of the faith of the Christian as something that is worthy to be praised and honored at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1, verses 6-9. That the Christian, when they endure in the present time different trials and tribulations, Once the faith that is tested as genuine is proved, that is tested, even compared with gold that perishes when it's put through fire, that faith of the Christian, when it's tested genuine, according to 1 Peter 1, verse 7, that faith will be or result in praise and honor and glory at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How are we going to reconcile, brethren, what the Apostle John says here in this verse 28? When we have all of these teachings of the Scriptures, not only that the faith of the Christian is going to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that Christians will receive the crown of righteousness or the crown of life. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, says James in chapter 1. And then in the same chapter in verse 12, he says, Blessed is the man who endures those trials and those temptations, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. That is what the Scriptures clearly teach, that those who love the Lord, as we know, they don't have the ability to love the Lord, but they love because they have been loved first.

So Christians will receive the crown of life which the Lord has prepared to those who love Him. How are we going to reconcile that that crown of life is the same crown of righteousness that the Apostle Paul speaks about in 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 4 saying that he will receive this crown of righteousness when he makes it until the end. Just as every other Christian will be those, he says, love the appearing of the Lord. Saying that Christians love the appearing of the Lord. That Christians will receive a crown of life.

That Christians will receive a crown of righteousness. That Christians will enter into the everlasting joy of the Lord. That the faith of the Christian will result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of that is truth, brethren. Every single person who by grace, through faith, has been united to the Lord Jesus Christ will experience absolutely everything that the Bible says for those who are genuinely saved.

Not those who say, Lord, Lord, only from their mouths. but those who have had a genuine encounter with the Spirit of God who has given them life and inserted them in the person of Christ never to be separated and to receive all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Spiritual blessings that were from before the foundation of the world into eternity because we were chosen in Him and in love He predestined us according to Ephesians 1 from verse 3 and onwards. Then, how are we going to reconcile, oh brethren? How are we going to reconcile that all of those scriptures are truth?

Yet, we have this verse here from this meek, humble, old man who has suffered many things, who has seen the tribulations and persecutions of the early church, who is alone in his ministry of apostleship to the church, who is alone perhaps even in his sufferings and tribulations. And now that he's writing these things to the church, not only of the primitive or the early church, but the church of the Lord Jesus Christ through the ages. How are we going to understand this implicit teaching that I hope that you can clearly see there, that is very, very clear. That at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, He expects that we will be confident and not shrink from Him in shame. And the necessity, or better, the condition of our response in confidence is our present abiding in Him.

Well, my dear brother and sister, we are simply going to submit to what the scriptures teach. The scripture interprets the scriptures, and we are always to give priority to that which is written above any doctrinal or any theological presupposition. Every doctrinal and theological assumption is to be dependent upon what is written in the Word of God. Our doctrines, our thoughts, and our assumptions depend upon what is written in the Bible. We are supposed to build our doctrines and build our theology and build our doctrinal thoughts based on what is written.

And when we come to ask ourselves and try to answer a question from the scriptures, brethren, let me tell you this. The text always has priority over our theological assumptions. I'm not saying that we interpret the text apart from our theological assumptions, but what I'm saying is that that which is written takes priority over our theological assumptions. Otherwise, we find ourselves in the trap of just simply belonging to a particular camp and interpreting the scriptures according to what this camp says about the scriptures. And we don't see it, but then we are in a jail of understanding.

The Spirit of the Lord is the one that teaches us. And in the context of the local church, the church and the Christian is to submit to what is written and to formulate doctrines and thoughts from what is written. And don't be afraid that I'm not saying that this is not in agreement with the rest of the doctrines. I'm just simply telling you that we are not to be afraid of what a text says and then just run through a door and try to find an interpretation that fits my theological camp in order just to appease myself and to feel comfortable about the difficult interpretation of a passage. Scripture interprets Scripture.

And the text of the Scripture always is going to help us to understand what the Scriptures teach. Come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and let me give you an example of what I say before we return to our text, so that I will illustrate with better words what I'm trying to communicate here. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Simply pay attention to the verse that is found in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 21 and 22. Pay attention to this.

For as by a man came death, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 21. For as by a man came death, By a man has come also the resurrection of the death, Adam and Christ. By one man, death came, and by the other man, life came. Right? Or the resurrection of the death.

Now pay attention to verse 22. For as in Adam all died... How many died in Adam, brethren? For as in Adam all died, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. How many are made alive in Christ?

All. Okay. How are we going to understand that, brothers and sisters, children who are reading the scriptures? All means all. All have died in Adam and all have been made alive in Christ.

How we understand that? Let me submit to you that before we allow theological assumptions and presuppositions to come into our brain and to make us interpret the text in which we say, I believe that there is a hell, I believe in limited atonement, or this or that, we are to allow the scriptures interpret the scriptures so that we are able to build up doctrines upon what is written and not upon partially read books that we have in the library or partially watch videos that we watch in YouTube. So that the content of the vessel will be that which is written and not the partial words of men because I choose the men that I'm going to be listening or watching. The apostle explains what he's referring to in Romans chapter 5. Return to Romans chapter 5, and then you allow the Scriptures to interpret the Scriptures.

We have all dying in Adam, all being made alive in Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 5. Then we have also the complicated passage that is many times used by some Christians to speak about the atonement of the Lord. Now pay attention to Romans chapter 5, and I think I'm going to verse 15 through verse 17. Pay attention to that here, speaking of the same thought that the Apostle had spoken about in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

But the free gift in verse 15 of chapter 5, "...but the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many die through one man's trespass..." You see, it's a similar thought. Similar thing that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, "...

for if many die through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many." We still have the same issue. Many and many. 16. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin.

For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. We have condemnation from the side of Adam, and we have justification on the side of Christ for many. And then he says in verse 17, For if, because of one man's trespass, that is, Adam, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Verse 18. Therefore, as one trespass led to the condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to the justification and life for all men.

How are we going once again to understand that there seems to be in clear agreement to what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 21 and 22? Well, we are just to simply pay attention carefully to what the apostle says specifically in verse 17 in which he explained those who receive the life. It says, for if because of one man's trespass death reign through the one man, then he says, and carefully reading, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of the righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Who are the ones that receive the life? Who are the all in the mind of the apostle?

Those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Scriptures have interpreted the Scriptures. We have received interpretation from what is written and we can come to the Scriptures and submit ourselves entirely to what is written in the book and not to doctrines that are formulated from men or by men. Who are they all? Are those who receive the abundance of the grace, the free gift of righteousness in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, clearly stated by the Apostle in verse 17.

The text always takes priority over our theological assumptions. We are not to take our theological assumptions into the text, but rather build our doctrinal statements based on what is contained in the Scriptures. That's why the more that we abide in the book, and the more that we treasure up the content of the book in the heart, the more that we walk in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the more that we walk in His truth. He does not speak to the one that rashly or carelessly approaches the book, playlessly, without fasting, without coming to the Lord and supplicating for revelation and to be instructed in the book. The Lord speaks to those who honor the Lord.

Psalm 24 verse 15, right sister? It speaks, open the eyes to those who come and fear the Lord. Brethren, this should be the attitude of those who come before the Lord. So when we return, to the text that we have in front of us in 1 John chapter 2. We are to ask simple things about the text, and to have clarity about what the text says.

And from there, we can formulate any doctrine or any answer about what we are told by the Apostle John. The first thing that I want you to note is the commandment, Abide. We are told in verse 28 that we are to abide. Now, brethren, here this abide is not speaking about the internal dwelling of the Holy Spirit inside of us and our union with Christ. Something that will never stop and that nothing can separate us from that abiding in Christ.

Rather, here we have the experiential abiding of the Christian. Why? Because it's simply a commandment. The apostle has given us an imperative, a commandment, and now little children abide in him. The eternal dwelling of the Spirit in our hearts, our salvation, depends on God.

He is the one that saves us and unites us to him. Doing and our sanctification is the empowerment of God, but it's also our responsibility. And this is seen in the Scriptures in the ways of commandments. So we are given that commandment there of abiding in Him. This is the experience of the Christian.

It's not this eternal salvation once again. This abiding in Christ is the one that is nurtured by the reading of the Scriptures, by prayer, by coming to church, and all the things that we said last week. Second important thing that we are to note from the text very clearly and plainly in front of us. The text is speaking for and about Christians only. Brethren, the text, verse 28, is impossible in a rational world to come and insert into the text other than Christians.

The Apostle uses their little children with this endearment way of treating these Christians that he's using in chapter 1 and in chapter 2. These are the little children. The Apostle is speaking directly to Christians. And if calling them little children was not enough, he is going to include himself in the pronoun. He says, little children, abiding him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

The Apostle is applying this verse clearly to Christians. And if that was not enough, my dear brother and dear sister and friend here with me and with us, the Apostle never, never gives us a hint that he has in mind someone else. He does not say, and now little children, abide in Him so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be like those who shrink back from Him in shame. He never ever says any of that. But rather, the be ashamed before Him at His coming is conjugated, if you understand that word, is put together with the pronoun we.

That we will have confidence at His coming and that we will not be ashamed. So the apostle brother and sister is clearly speaking to Christians. This message is to Christians. So we are to find the way to reconcile. And according to the scriptures, all the promises that we have of entering into the everlasting joy of the Lord, of our faith, being for the praise and glory and honor of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, of receiving the crown of life and receiving the crown of righteousness with the fact that implicitly in verse 28, we have the truth.

that at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a possibility that those Christians who have not been abiding in Christ will shrink from Him in shame. The text demands that we will understand it in that particular way. And even if you were going to think that verse 29 is somehow a continuation of verse 28, in which is speaking of genuine believers, which verse 29 is speaking of genuine believers. The hymn in verse 29 is not God the Son, but it's God the Father, because we're not born from God the Son. We are born from God the Father.

So verse 29 would have been better in chapter 3, rather than in the end of chapter 2. Here we have the conclusion of what the Apostle has said before, and this is what we need to understand. Now brethren, someone may say, but yet, what the Apostle has in mind here are genuine Christians. Not all Christians, but actually genuine Christians. Genuine Christians will always respond in confidence at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That genuine Christians will always have this experience of confidence at the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, let me tell you, while that is a grammatical possibility in that text, let me just simply tell you that the testimony of the Scriptures speaks very differently to that. There is the possibility that when a Christian has an encounter with the Lord, that he or she may not be abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even if we conclude that having confidence at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ is a characteristic of all Christians, then we need to conclude that all Christians would at all times, every single day, abide in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Lord Jesus Christ can come at any time.

And then we will have to conclude that when the Lord comes, whatever millions of Christians there's going to be in the world, that all of them are going to be found experientially, not legally or spiritually, but experientially. abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ, reminding themselves of the gospel, walking in the power of the Spirit, going to church, belonging to church, and living their lives in the Spirit and praying and fasting and living in communion with the Lord, while the testimony of the Scriptures do not speak about that reality, brethren. This testimony of the Scriptures actually speaks of the opposite. It says that we are to be very careful and diligent in our Christian life, so that we will find ourselves in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, even in light of the Second Coming. Come to 2 Peter 1, and I think that the apostle illustrates there the concept, and it will help us to understand this.

Go to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. This is something that I have mentioned now many times, brethren. But just remember this passage here. How the apostle is going to connect from the present life of the Christian to the moment in which we enter into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It says in verse 5 of chapter 1 of 2 Peter, pay attention to that, brothers and sisters. It says, for this very reason, Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. He says in verse 5, make every effort to supplement your existing faith with all of these virtues. The Christian is called to be diligent. In supplementing the present given faith, according to verse 1, faith like the apostles' faith, a genuine saving faith, we are to make every effort to supplement this faith with all of these virtues.

Then we find in verse 8, it says, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Never, ever the Apostle Peter has in mind non-believers or atheists or people outside of the church. He's speaking to Christians. Your existing faith is to be added upon all of these virtues. For if these qualities or virtues are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 9. For whoever lacks these qualities is so, in the present, nearsighted that he is blind. Speaking to Christians. having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Because of the presence of sin, and also because of the absence of all of these virtues that a Christian is supposed to have in his or her life, now this Christian is experiencing fruitlessness.

I hope that that is a word in English. There is fruitlessness, and also not growing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, but more than that, now this person is lacking assurance of salvation. having forgotten that he or she was cleansed from her or his former sins. Was that person cleansed from their former sins? Yes.

That person was cleansed from their former sins. What is happening is that present lack of maturity of abiding in Christ is bringing this person to be blind. Not to be able to see spiritually. And not to be fruitful and to have forgotten that they were cleansed in their former sins. But the apostle will even connect it with the coming of the Lord.

Verse 10, therefore, because of this situation, Brethren, brothers and sisters, he says, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, not if you prayed a prayer, not if you know that you had faith, or not if you have faith in your faith, or not if you have faith in your Christianity, but if you practice these qualities, which are supposed to be added to your existing faith, it says, if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Brethren, it is possible for a Christian not to be presently abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of the lack of present abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ, have a life of fruitlessness lacking the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and even to the point of temporal blindness that they forget that they have been cleansed from their former sins.

And my dear brother and my dear sister, if one was going to suppose that in 1 John 2, verse 28, that every single Christian will always receive the Lord in confidence because they are abiding in Christ, one will have to deny this present experience. And the same Apostle John in 1 John chapter 1 has spoken about the sin and how to deal with sin. Remember? Confess your sin because He's just and faithful to forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So, brethren, if we return to 1 John 2, verse 28, I have tried to do as much as is possible to demonstrate to you that this message is directed to you, that this message is directed to Christians, and that what we presently do can determine how we're going to face the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But now, something very important for us to understand here, and that is that what we have in verse 28, brethren, perhaps this is the most important thing that I will say this whole time. What we have in verse 28 is not what God or Christ will do to us, but rather is what we will experience. What we have in verse 28 is not Christ coming upset because we have not been abiding in Christ and making us ashamed. But rather, what we have in verse 28 is the experience of the Christian as the result of their lack of abiding in Christ. And there's a big difference between those two.

Because the first one, Christ doing something against the children of God, will go against all the other Scriptures that I quoted in the beginning of the sermon. But this here is speaking about the experience of the Christian at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the lack of the presence of abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, so here we have an experience. And let me just break down that experience a little bit from the writings of John. This is the experience that we have described.

It says, if you pay attention, this is an experience of an encounter. This is the only word that I have in my vocabulary to explain this. So it's an encounter. An encounter with God. Or in this case, with the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, in verse 28 it says that when He appears, He was hidden in a sense, right? He was hidden from the visibility of the person when he's revealed, when he appears. We may have confidence and not be ashamed before him. In the ESV it says, not shrink from him. Here we have the experience of the Christian.

That is what the Christian experiences at the encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. This encounter, this experience is explained in a little bit further detail in the following verses in chapter 3, verse 2. Pay attention to that. It says in verse 2 of chapter 3. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.

But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who does hope in Him purifies himself as he is pure. Two important things about this text here, brethren. that the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ brings this revelation to the Christian, where we see Him as He is. We have been walking by faith.

When we see Him, we will be walking now, or we will just have sight, 2 Corinthians 5. We're walking by faith, not by sight. But when He comes, brethren, We will see Him. That is the consummation of faith. You know, faith is this certainty, this assurance of things that we hope for.

But the coming of Christ is what we hope for, is what the Christian desires. And when He returns, that is the consummation of faith. Now, faith has been transformed into the certainty of these feeble eyes of beholding the beauty of the Savior. And brethren, this is given for every single Christian, that there is going to be a day in which each one of you is going to be able to behold the countenance of this glorious Christ, this glorious Savior that died for your soul 2,000 years ago, the one that we do not see yet we love, the one that we do not see yet believe in Him. You are going to be able to behold those firing eyes.

You're going to be able to see the countenance, the beautiful countenance of our Savior. You're going to be able to rejoice in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, face to face, encounter with the eternally begotten Son of God. Each one of you, brother, sister, and also friend. Because if you are not in Christ, what a terrifying thing that day will be. to find yourself before the one who knows it all, the one who inspects it all, the one who has witnessed absolutely everything that you have said, done, and even having the secret places of your heart, even the things that are unknown to you, will be exposed and revealed there, face to face, an encounter with Him.

And this, brethren, now let me submit and add something to you there. That this encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, even though this eschatological or end times encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ is unique and is one of its type and kind, the Christian has present access to God himself through the person of Jesus Christ. And the access that we presently have to the Lord Jesus Christ is a shadow of that which we're going to experience when He comes. And what we experience in the present time defines, actually, the future encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. You see that the experience that we have in verse 28 for the Christian can be of two types or two outcomes.

One of confidence or the other one of shame. You can see there that we're speaking about Christians. I've tried to explain now extensively. One of confidence or one of shame. When we think about this confidence, brethren, the word confidence there simply means, and I said I think that to you last week, this boldness of speech.

That is that the Christian can enter into the presence of God with boldness of speech, to preach, to speak freely, to open the mouth and speak freely. And the only reason why a person can come and enter into the Holy of Holies, And entering into the presence of God and open his or her mouth boldly is because that person has the absolute certainty that he or she has been washed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because if you don't have the certainty and assurance that you have been washed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're not even going to dare to come into the presence of the Holy One. And that's why I say that the future encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ is typified by the present encounter that the Christian has with God. Pay attention to 1 John 5, if you go there very quickly, to verse 14.

The Apostle uses there, once again, this word confidence, which is the same word that he speaks about or writes about, or at least dictated in verse 28 of chapter 2. Verse 14 of chapter 5, it says, Verse 14 of chapter 5. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him. And this Him, brethren, is God. Imagine this.

This is the boldness that we Christians have toward Him. That if we ask, anything according to His will, He will hear us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of Him. Brethren, this is exactly the same thing that Hebrews chapter 4 speaks about entering to the throne of grace with boldness. The Christian who is presently experiencing the cleansing and the washing of sins, and the conscience is clean because of the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that Christian will experience the power of confidence and boldness.

that in the present time will drive them to come on their knees to supplicate before the Lord, and to enter knowing not that, oh, the Lord is going to kill me, or the Lord is going to send thunder upon me and destroy me, the Lord is going to open the ground and send me to hell. But rather, the Christian has the confidence and the boldness to enter into the presence of God, the curtain that has been opened by the Lord Jesus Christ, and enter to speak freely, and to speak not only to request, but according to His will, and with the certainty that if we open our mouth in confidence before the Lord, that He will answer what we feeble creatures ask. that the God of this universe who created heavens and earth and everything that is in them, the One who sustains the minds of people, the emotions of people are sustained by God. Every single atom is sustained by God that He will respond to the prayer of a feeble and righteous person that has the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ upon him or her. So he comes or she comes with boldness into the secret place of God.

Now, if a person has an encounter with God when they die, and they are not walking in the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, if they are not walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, if they are not abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ, if they are not being fruitful in their faith, If they are not adding all of these qualities and all of these virtues according to 2 Peter 1, verse 5 and onwards, if that person has been now blinded, if this person now has forgotten that he or she was cleansed from her former sins, do you think that that person will have confidence upon the encounter with the Lord? Terrifying! Fear of punishment. Now, this is the experience. This is not what the Lord will do.

This is just simply the experience of the Christian. Come to 1 John chapter 4, because once again, I want you to see there in verse 16 and 17, how the apostle then explains there in the parallel verse what he is referring to. 1 John chapter 4, verse 16. So we know in 1 John 4, verse 16, So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God.

It's just a parallel to what we just said before. Whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. Brethren, speaking to Christians, That the love of God will be perfected in our hearts, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. Because as He is, so also are we in this world.

Once again, not speaking about that which Christ will do to those Christians who are not abiding in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ upon His coming, but rather speaking about the experience of the Christian who will enter into the presence of the Lord with fear and trembling of punishment. As it says here, the parallel use of this verse, punishment, is in Matthew, speaking about eternal punishment, brethren. Because the one that is not walking in the light, the one that is walking in darkness and says that I have fellowship with God, first of all, is a liar, and second of all, will experience the fruits of darkness. And that is lack of assurance of salvation, if actually he's a Christian, being blinded, nearsighted, forgetting that he or she has been cleansed from their former sins. Brethren, see the importance and necessity of abiding in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not abiding in Christ is not only that it's not going to make us fruitful in our Christian walk, but not abiding in Christ is going to bring suffering and torment upon our shoulders. Temporal. How are we going to carry the burdens of this world? How are we going to carry the burdens of our sins? How are we going to deal with the thoughts that we have inside of these feeble minds?

How are we going to forgive? How are we going to love? How are we going to count the loss to sacrifice and lay down our lives for the brethren? How are we going to accomplish all of those things without abiding in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? But my dear brother and dear sister, as I said to you, this is the experience of the Christian.

Because the experience of the Christian does not define the response of our God. Because if our heart condenses because of our walk, God is greater than our hearts. This is what the apostle says in 1 John chapter 4, 3. Pay attention to this, brethren. 1 John chapter 3.

Verse 19. Pay attention to this because this is the explanation of everything that I've said here. Verse 19. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him. So abiding in Christ, brethren, be with me there, abiding with Christ assures our heart before Him, in His presence.

If you abide in Christ, you have confidence and you are reassured in your heart. So you can enter into the throne of grace in time of need, Hebrews 4. You can enter into the presence of the Lord with a conscience that has been sprinkled clean, Hebrews 10. You can come with supplications before the Lord. Philippians chapter 4, you can come before Him with confidence, with assurance, not a confidence that is established upon your good looking or your deeds and works and abilities to know or not to know something.

but rather established upon the cleansing power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what empowers a Christian to come with boldness to the presence of the Savior. A heart that has been reassured. So it says in verse 19, By this we shall know that we are the truth and reassure our heart before Him. Brethren, pay attention to this.

Verse 20, For whenever our heart condemns us, what does it say? God is greater than our heart. For whenever, once again, verse 20, for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence, it says there. The same word, we have confidence before or in front of God.

And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. All this glorious circle of the Christian life. that if you presently abide in Christ, the fountain of living waters, that if you abide in the presence and you tarry with a good person at the feet of the Savior, that if you're not taken by the affairs and the distractions of this world, that you're not taken by your sins, brethren. You know that you have forgiveness in Christ? That if you come and confess your sins, He is just and faithful to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness?

Satan is the one that will tempt you to despair, as we sang. Satan is the one that will tempt you to, I don't want to go. I don't want to come. I don't want to pray. I don't want to read.

I don't want to fast. It's too late for me. I'm lost, brethren. That is Satan speaking to you. He says, come to me.

All of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come to me. Confess your sin. Confess the things that you have done. My blood is sufficient to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

And when the power of the gospel has come upon the backslidden Christian who has been going into the darkness of the forest of this world, Now he can come joyfully to the presence of the Savior awaiting upon Mount Calvary. Recome to me to cross the Jordan River and to enter into the city of God. O brethren, and that is sweetness of pleasures forevermore, says the psalmist, that we will come to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the heart of the Christian reassured to come with confidence before God, presently and at His coming. So we can say, Maranatha!

Come, Lord Jesus! That we can rejoice inside, not because we have done this or that, but rather because the life of the Lord Jesus Christ is abounding and flowing through us. So, brethren, abide in Him so that when He appears, you may have confidence and not be ashamed at His coming. Amen? Let's pray.