The Future is Now!

12 Date: February 11th, 2018 Text: 1 John 2:28-3:3 Title: The Future is Now! Series: How Can I Know My Faith Is Real? Introduction: · Knowing and predicting the future has been a quest of mankind for many years…people often go to great lengths to find answers to their future and even spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to people who will give them some inclination as to what the future holds for them. o The thing about predicting the future, is that at some point, the future comes and then fades into the past and those predictions must be evaluated. o For example… § 1903 – “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty…a fad”. – President of the Michigan Savings Bank trying to discourage Henry Ford’s lawyer from investing in the newly formed motor company. § 1920 – “A rocket will never leave the earth’s atmosphere” – NY Times dismissing the possibility of space travel § 1962 – "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." - Decca Recording Company on declining to sign the Beatles § 1977 – “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home” – Ken Olsen founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) § 1995 – “I predict the internet will go spectacularly supernova and in 1996, catastrophically collapse.” – Robert Metcalfe invented the Ethernet cable and worried that his clever piece of wire would not be able to handle all that data. § 1997 – “Admit it, you’re out of the hardware game.” – Wired magazine challenges Apple to face the fact that it cannot compete with other gadget markets o Other predictions have been made that never came true and there will be more. § Y2k scare § Mayan calendar – 12/21/12 was the last date on the Mayan calendar · Why are people so focused on knowing the future? o The reasons are as varied as the predictions, but I think that many want to know the future out of hopes that by gaining the knowledge of what the future holds, efforts can be made to ensure the good future happens while holding back the events that lead to a negative future…in other words, the reality of the human condition is that if your knowledge of the future tells you something good is coming, you would do everything you could to make sure that future happened, but if your knowledge of the future revealed a bad condition, you would take steps to avoid that future or perhaps change that future toward something better…what you know about the future changes the way you live today. · With those thoughts in mind, please turn to 1 John 2:28-3:3 o In this text, John will give us insight into the future, but what makes this different from all those other predictions people make about the future is that you can count on this one…why? Because it comes from God…the all knowing God…the all seeing God… o John sees a day coming that is filled with hope and is a powerful motivation for the present. § The truth about the future impacts your life today. · Throughout this book, John has been giving his beloved people words of encouragement and challenge…and by doing so has given us tests that prove genuine faith. o He has encouraged them to find full joy in their fellowship with God and the Son…genuine believers find joy in fellowship with God and other believers o He has called them to walk in the light and stay close to Christ…genuine believers will pattern their life according to righteousness and truth. o He has called them to obedience and love…genuine believers will seek to obey the truth and show genuine love towards the brethren. o He has also told them they need to know the truth and not be seduced by the world…genuine believers will love God and hate the world. o He also made them aware of the enemies of Christ and the faith…genuine believers will fight and resist the efforts of all and everything that sets itself up against God. · Now in this text he adds the exhortation to let the truth of Jesus’ return in the future to impact how you live today. Main Point: Genuine believers allow the truth of what we will be then to transform the way we live right now. · Five features of the genuine believer who hopes for Jesus’ imminent return. 1. You Have a Sustained Faith (2:28) · The word abide is a present imperative. o It is a command that calls for consistent action…it is not passive…it must be pursued by every genuine believer. o Persevering in the faith of salvation is the continual pursuit of righteousness and fellowship through obedience to the truth. § The hope of Jesus return produces the effect of continual abiding in every true believer because we long for the promise of a glorious future. § In 2 Timothy 4:8 Paul calls this loving his appearing · When he appears o Not if, but when…it is a reality to John…it will happen o Refers to the rapture when all believers will be gathered together and then the judgment seat of Christ that follows § 2 Cor. 5:9-10 § Judgment seat of Christ – this is the place where the Lord will evaluate believers’ lives for the purpose of giving them eternal rewards…bema was an elevated platform where athletes received their victors crown…also a place of judgment, where Jesus stood before Pilate…legal justice was dispensed here…done in the body…not sins because those have been paid for…all those activities believers do during their lifetimes that relate to their eternal reward and praise from God…Paul compares worthwhile, eternally valuable activities with useless ones…His point was not the believers should not enjoy certain wholesome, earthly things, but that the focus should be on glorifying God with what has eternal value. · Confidence – means “outspokenness” or “freedom of speech”…genuine believers will have confidence at Christ’s coming because they will be blameless in holiness based on their abiding in Christ. · Ashamed – this is in contrast to those who have confidence…remember John is writing to believers…and he challenges them to stay faithful which is equivalent to obedience because he doesn’t want them to be ashamed when Jesus appears. o So when Jesus comes one of two responses will occur in your life… § Confident that although you weren’t perfect, you were progressively becoming more consistent in living for God’s glory. § Ashamed because your faithfulness was sporadic, your fellowship with God and his people was based on convenience, your knowledge of the truth was “just enough to get by”, your service was out of obligation instead of love, your attitude was me first, my way instead of God’s way, etc. o The possibility exists that some genuine believers, although confident that Jesus will appear, may experience some shame because they have not remained as faithful as they should have…they have not been obedient like God wanted them to. § Paul seems to address this possibility in 1 Cor. 3:15 when at the judgment seat of Christ their works are burned up because their foundation was worthless o 1 Cor. 3:12-15 (put on screen and walk through brief explanation) the context of this passage is in dealing with people who try to build the church with something other than faithful ministry in obedience to Christ. § V. 12 -- Notice the difference in materials used · Gold, silver, precious stones – quality represents dedicated spiritual service · Wood, hay, straw – inferior materials implying shallow activity with no eternal value § V. 13 Fire – God’s discerning judgment that considers some of the things we do as worthless § V. 14 – survives – all that has been accomplished in his power and for his glory will survive § V. 14 – reward – this is not a judgment for sin…Jesus already paid that price…this is only to determine eternal reward. § V.15 – saved – no matter how much is considered worthless, no believer will forfeit salvation. o Will you be ashamed when Jesus appears because the bulk of your efforts have been focused on things that have no eternal value? o A second implication of this is that some will be ashamed because they are fake…lost. § Mark 8:38 (on screen) · What reaction will you have when Jesus comes, knowing He can come at any moment? o God wants you to be confident, not hiding in shame. 2. You Make Righteousness a Habit (29) · The term for born is the same verb John uses in his gospel (3:7) where Jesus talks to Nicodemus and tells him he must be born again. · Genuine believers receive the divine, righteous nature of our Heavenly Father (1 Peter 1:3, 13-16) o As a result, all genuine believers will display characteristics of God’s righteousness. o Everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. § This is not a reference to the occasional act of good. § This reveals a lifestyle pattern…habits. · John employs here what is known as an effect to cause structure. o The effect is righteous behavior o The cause is being truly born again o Why did John write it this way? § In our way of thinking we would say that everyone who is born of God does what is right. § But the way John writes it, we now have a conditional sentence with two parts. · If you know that he is righteous – condition · You know that everyone who does with is right is born of him – conclusion o John writes it this way to emphasize that the conduct of genuine believers is right because they are genuine children of God. By doing so he affirms that righteous living is the proof of being born again. o By linking this to the appearance of Jesus, John is exhorting the genuine believer to not be engaged in a passive waiting that is unproductive, rather his challenge is for us to be actively promoting God’s righteous kingdom through holy living. § In other words, the genuine believer is not going to wait until Jesus comes to start living righteously, the genuine believer choses righteousness now. 3. You Are Strengthened By God’s Love (3:1) · Find strength in Jesus’ return because it unites us with our Father who loves us immeasurably. o Without God lavishly loving us first, we would not be his children…look how great the Father’s love for us…it is a love that is out of this world…that’s what John means with this word for great…it is peculiar, out of this world kind of love…while we were his enemies he loved us. o His love for us is two-fold… § We are now called his children…what an honor…we bear His name and that gives us the assurance that we are heirs and co-heirs with Jesus. § This is truly who we are…meaning we have his nature…this is not just a promise he will fulfill in the future…it is a present reality…not only do we bear his name, we bear his nature. § We enjoy all the rights and privileges of adoption because we have come to know God as our father. o Find strength in knowing you don’t need the world to understand you, because it won’t. § As a child of God, the love He has for you is so deep, so rich, so out of this world that you don’t need to seek the approval of others to be considered valuable. § Because our new nature is from out of this world, the display of that nature and lifestyle is totally foreign to the unsaved. · We are exiles and strangers – Heb. 11:13 · Just as Jesus was unearthly in origin, so are those who are truly born again. § The implication of this is that we must be careful not to blur the line of demarcation that ought to exist between us and the world by being like them…the more you grow in Christ, the clearer the difference ought to be. 4. You will be conformed to His image (3:2) · Our salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ is more than simply being rescued. o It is a complete and total renovation, a transformation that transcends what any human words can describe. · John reveals there is a tension Christians experience between what is known as the already/not yet dimension. o We are already, today, God’s children. § I am in the fullest sense the one God created me to be and the one He redeemed me to be through new birth. o However, we do not yet experience all the benefits of our relationship with God. § We are still in processing…progressive sanctification… · 1 Cor. 2:9 & 1 Cor. 13:12 § The progression of our sanctification will end when Jesus comes… · Rom 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:42-49; Phil 3:21 o When Jesus comes, every believer will experience ultimate conformity to His likeness…we don’t know fully what being in his likeness means, but we do know is that our life then will be far better than we could ever imagine. § It is this hope that keeps us going! 5. Your behavior is different now (3:3) · This is the key to all John says in this passage…living in light of his coming makes a difference in your life right now. o Since every believer will be like him someday, a desire should grow within them to become like him now. o Knowing that God is going to conform me to the exact image of His Son, ought to motivate me to continually purse a life of purity and holiness, just as Jesus is pure and holy. · The word for purity here is the same word we would use to consecrate something, to set it apart for special use, to sanctify it, to make it holy… · The point here is that because we know Jesus is coming, we are actively engaged in the sanctification process with our entire being o Through confession and repentance. Confession says, “I’ve been walking down the wrong road,” and repentance says, “By God’s grace, I’m going to go in a new direction.” · The genuine believer needs to take sin seriously and stop making excuses; stop being concerned about the things of God only on Sunday; quit blaming others or our lousy circumstances for our poor attitudes and choices; and cry out to God for mercy and grace; and then we will find the parental forgiveness and cleansing of God that leads to a life a purity from the things that are holding us back. · the genuine believer who gets this lives in the hope of becoming conformed to Christ and the more he contemplates this truth the more he purifies himself of sin…he seeks to cleanse himself from sin that contaminates body and soul; constantly striving for holiness. Lesson for Life – Set Your Eyes on Him · God has ordained that all his children will make it safely home…don’t give up because you’re almost home. · We are not yet what we will be, but what we will be must change what we ought to be…PURSUE HOLINESS NOW…with greater intensity so you are not ashamed when he comes for you.