Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2509
“Whoever commits sin transgresses also the Law: for sin is the transgression of the Law. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.” 1 John 3:4,5.
NOTE, beloved, the special character of Believers—their Divine relationship, their heavenly privilege—they are called, “the children of God.” There is a foolish dream about the Divine Fatherhood toward all men, but it is a figment, a fiction, a delusion, a deception. The Fatherhood of God is toward as many as He has begotten again unto a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead—these are His children. As for the rest of mankind, they are heirs of wrath, even as others. It is the special manner of God’s love that we are bidden in this chapter to “behold” as a wonder, because He has bestowed this “manner of love” upon us, “that we should be called the sons of God.” And that He has not bestowed this love upon all men is evident, for it is added, “therefore the world knows us not because it knew Him not.”
So, you see, out of the special privilege of God’s children there grows a special position which they are called to occupy. They are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world. They become a holy people, separated unto God. I say not that all who profess the Christian name are so—that is what they ought to be, but it is to be feared that many of them have not yet reached this standard. But true Believers, the twice-born, have been regenerated by the Spirit of God. These are not of the world and the world does not understand them. They are aliens and foreigners—their manners and customs, their modes of thought and their motives are all contrary to those of the ordinary sons of men—and they have to force their way through the would as pilgrims through a Vanity Fair where there is nothing for them to purchase and nothing worthy of their attention. May God keep you, dear Brothers and Sisters, a separated people! May you obey that voice, “Come out from among them and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Observe also, dear Friends, as you read this chapter, what is the blessed hope of the children of God—they are looking for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven! As they look back by faith, they see their Lord upon the Cross and then they see Him in the tomb—and then they behold Him risen from the grave. The last glimpse they catch of Him is as a cloud receives Him out of their sight. He has gone into Glory, but Believers have not forgotten those angelic words to the disciples, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into Heaven.” So we expect Him to come. And when He comes, then is to be the time of our highest joy! Even though we are now called the sons of God, “it does not yet appear what we shall be.” Our glory, our full bliss, is as yet concealed, “but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is.” So, Brothers and Sisters, our hope is that when Christ shall come, we shall be perfected—that then we shall be rid of every sin and shall become holy even as He is holy, pure even as He is pure!
What is our occupation while we are waiting for our Lord’s return? Standing on the doorstep of the better dispensation, what are we doing? The third verse of this chapter tells us that “every man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as He is pure.” Casting off every sin, mourning that it should be within us, resolving that it shall not master us, determining to go from strength to strength in holiness and true righteousness, endeavoring to perfect holiness in the fear of God—this is the present occupation of the sons of God who expect that, by-and-by, they shall be made like unto their risen and ascended Lord!
Now, in order that we may carry on this blessed work of purifying ourselves, I want you to think with me upon three matters suggested by our text. The first is, the Christian’s view of sin—“Sin is the transgression of the Law.” The second is, the Christian’s hope of rescue from sin. Where does that lie? “You know that He was manifested to take away our sins.” And the third is, the Christian’s model, to which he hopes before long to be conformed—“In Him is no sin” and, as we shall be like He when we shall see Him as He is, so in us there shall be no sin—
“O glorious hope! O blest abode! I shall be near and like my God And flesh and sin no more control, The sacred pleasures of my soul.”
I. First, then, I want you to consider for a few minutes, for I cannot go fully into such a great subject, what is THE CHRISTIAN’S VIEW OF SIN.
I know that there are some persons who understand, by the word, “sin,” some offense against their fellow men, or the outward neglect of religion. They regard sin as if it were the same thing as crime—an offense against the prosperity of the nation or the welfare of their fellow men. I am inclined to think that even some of my Brothers and Sisters in Christ do not really understand what sin is when they say that they live without it. I fancy that theymean by sin, something very different from what the Scripture means by that word, otherwise they would hardly talk as they do!