Real Salvation | Part 2

Has there been a real truth that never changes through the messages of God? Now we sit in churches, well-dressed and with a benign smile on our face, but God looks down into our hearts and God sees the rebellion that is there. Now look, if you will, verse 4, And whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the law. Now there are many definitions of sin in the Bible, but this is perhaps the clearest and the best.

Whosoever committeth sin transgresses the law. Sin is breaking God's law. Now the Bible says in Romans 14, verse 23, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. That's a good definition of sin. Or the Bible says in James 4, verse 17, Wherefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not to him it is sin. And then in 1 John, chapter 5 and verse 17, All unrighteousness is sin. Those are definitions of sin, but this one is the clearest and the most concise. Sin is the transgression of the law.

Let me just put it another way. Sin is lawlessness. That's what sin is. Sin is the transgression of the law.

It makes you an outlaw. You say, Well, why did God give us these old laws? It'd be a whole lot better if we didn't have all these laws.

No, the laws are for your welfare. Every time God says, Thou shalt not, He's saying, Don't hurt yourself. Every time God says, Thou shalt, God is saying, Help yourself to happiness. God doesn't need anything.

He has everything. God made these laws for us. But sin is the transgression of the law. And when we transgress, we break God's law, and we break God's heart because God loves us.

Now, what we need to do is to take the policeman off the street corner and put the policeman in the heart. So the very first thing I want you to see is the rebellion that proves our sinfulness. Verse 4, Whosoever committh sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.

Number 2, I want you to see in contrast to that the righteousness that proclaims our sonship. And we know that He, Jesus, was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not. Now, if we are in Christ, if we're saved, the Bible says we are not going to sin. That's what God's Word says. Now, we have a lot of people who say they're saved. We have a lot of people who say they're on the way to heaven. But there's been no change in their life.

None at all. That's the reason I call them baptized pagans. There's no change.

Listen to me. The Bible says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. If your religion has not changed your life, you'd better change your religion.

You do not have the Bible kind. Now, we have today sort of an easy believism, where people say, oh, do you believe in Jesus? Yes. You believe He died for your sins?

Yes. Well, then you're saved. No, you're not. The devil also believes and trembles. You are saved when you bow the knee to Jesus Christ, when you make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. Yes, that's an act of faith. But, friend, it is a change. And, again, if the religion has not changed your life, you don't have the Bible kind.

Now, I want to be very clear here. You're not saved by reforming your life. Our Lord never tells us to clean up and therefore He'll save us.

That's backward. We come to Jesus just as we are. But, friend, Jesus did not come to save us in our sin. He came to save us from our sin. He came to save us from our sin.

Look, if you will, in verse 5, and you know that He was manifested to take away our sins. In Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not. Now, that brings a real problem, because all of us know that we as Christians fail.

Look at verse 6 now, and I want you to slow down and pay a lot of attention with me now. Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not. Now, this is not talking about sinless perfection. There's nobody sinlessly perfect. If you study the Bible and you look at the lives of the saints, you're going to find out that they sinned. You're going to find out, for example, that Abraham lied about his wife, that Moses lost his temper, that Peter denied the Lord, and David was unfaithful. You're going to find out that the saints in the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Bible shows their faults and their failures. And yet, this passage of Scripture says that if we abide in Him, we will not sin.

Now, I don't want to be too technical, but listen very carefully. This, in the Greek language, is the present continuous tense, the present tense. Now, what does it mean? It simply means this, that if you're a Christian, do not make sin your lifestyle.

That's what it means. What he is saying is this, that when you give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a change, a radical, dramatic change. And now, because you're saved, because you have the nature of God in you, and we're going to see more about that later on, your life is changed. You do not habitually practice sin. You see, friend, God sent me here to tell you that if you do not care for God's commandments, that if you're living your willy-nilly life, doing as you please, not caring about God's commandments, not steering by God's stars, if you are habitually practicing sin, you don't know Him. You are not saved.

And John says, hey, don't let anybody deceive you. The problem is today, folks, we have a lot of folks who have joined churches who have never met Jesus. I mean, they have never really been saved. And so what he is saying is there is the rebellion that proves our sinfulness. There is the righteousness that proclaims our sonship, like Father, like Son. Now, the rebellion that proves our sinfulness, the righteousness that proclaims our sonship, you say, okay, but, Pastor, I don't have what it takes to live that way.

Neither do I. So here's the third and most important thing, the redemption that provides our salvation, the redemption that provides our salvation. When God tells us how we're to live, that doesn't mean that we can automatically do it.

Apart from Him. Now, look, if you will, here in verse 5. And you know that He was manifested, Jesus, to take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. So our Lord doesn't just give us these holy commandments and say, now, if you can live by these, you'll go to heaven. What about the sins we've already committed?

Jesus is manifested to take away our sins. In the Old Testament, in, oh, I think about Leviticus 16, there was the ritual of the scapegoat. The high priest would take two goats. Both of those goats would represent us. And the high priest would lay his hand on the head of one of the goats and confess the sins of the people. That is, placing the sins of the people on the head of that goat. And then that goat would be killed. That goat pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins were laid upon Him, and He died on the cross, five sins. Then they would take another goat, and they would lead that goat, called the scapegoat, away into the wilderness, never to return again. That pictures Jesus taking away our sins into the grave of God's forgetfulness.

Never, never, never to be brought up against us again. So, listen, what is the redemption that provides our salvation? Number one, we are redeemed from the penalty of sin. Jesus took that away.

That's what it says. He was manifested to take away our sins. When John the Baptist saw him in John chapter 1, he said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. But not only did He redeem me from the penalty of my sin, I still need help. He also redeemed me from the power of Satan. Look again in verses 7 and 8.

Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. That's the second reason He came. First reason He came, to take away our sins. But the second reason that He came is to destroy the power of the devil. Now, I am redeemed from the penalty of sin. I am redeemed from the power of Satan.

John is saying if you're still living like the devil, it's because you belong to the devil. You know, sometimes we criticize Hollywood and the liquor dealers and all of these people for what they do. We say, Oh, they sin. Of course they sin. They're sinners. That's what sinners are supposed to do.

I mean, what else would they do? They're sinners. You see, He that commiteth sin is of the devil. That's the problem in so many churches. We don't teach people how to be saved. Then we get them in the church, and the church rather than being a sheepfold has become a zoo.

Everybody gets in and nobody gets out and the pastor spends all of his time trying to teach billy goats not to butt. No, they're sinners. He that commiteth sin is of the devil.

That's why they do it. But now notice what he says here. Look at it. He that commiteth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. Now, the word destroy does not mean annihilate in the Greek language.

It means to make ineffective. We use the term today like that, just wipe me out. Jesus just wiped him out on the cross. He put him out of commission. On the cross, Jesus ruined Satan's kingdom, and Satan has no power, no authority over you. Before you were saved, you were Satan's slave and you were Satan's dirty plaything. You say, well, I was free. You thought you were free.

You were free to do what you wanted, but you were not free to do as you ought. You were Satan's slave, but Jesus has come to set you free. Jesus came to destroy the destroyer. And because I have new life in the Lord Jesus Christ, I will never, ever face the penalty of my sin, for Jesus took my sin away. I can tell Satan to go sit on a tack.

I don't have to listen to him. I don't have to obey him because his power is broken and Jesus has destroyed the power of Satan. If you don't understand that, folks, you're not going to live the Christian life.

I'm telling you, folks, that what we're talking about here is something real. Jesus came to destroy the destroyer, but we're still not home yet. We're talking now about the redemption that provides our salvation. Not only does he deliver us from the power of Satan, he also delivers us from the principle of self.

Now, look, if you will, in verse 9. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now, this tells me that I am redeemed. I am redeemed from the very principle of self. You see, if Jesus just dealt with my sin, and that's all I've still got me to deal with.

I'm my own worst enemy. But Jesus has redeemed me from the penalty of sin. Jesus has redeemed me from the power of Satan. And Jesus has redeemed me from the principle of self. Not only did he die for my sins, he died for me, what I am.

And look at it again. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. When you get saved, we're talking now about the principle of self. Number one, you get a new dynamic.

Write that down, a new dynamic. You see, he calls this born again. When I was born the first time, I had physical life.

When I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord, I received spiritual life. Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, verse 6? That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Everybody has had a fleshly birth. Not everybody has had a spiritual birth.

Look again in verse 9. Whosoever is born of God. Now, how are you born of God?

Well, I was born of Rose and Arden because those were my physical parents. What are my spiritual parents? The Word of God and the Spirit of God. The Word of God and the Spirit of God in the womb of grace have made me a new person. You see, the Bible says being born again, not of corruptible seed, sperm, but of incorruptible by the Word of God. You see, the Bible is my spiritual father, the Word of God. And you can't separate the God of that Word from the Word of that God.

And so I am born there. But also, it is the Spirit that quickens and gives life. Jesus said that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. So you take the Word of God and the Spirit of God, and there is a conception in the womb of grace, and you become a new person. And when you become a new person, then, dear friend, you have a new life, a new dynamic.

You're not dependent upon just trying to do it. There is a new life that has come into you. When, as a teen boy, I received Christ into my heart, I was born again. I received a new dynamic. And because I have a new dynamic, listen carefully. Here's the second thing.

I have a new desire. Look at this verse again in verse 9. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin.

Watch this now. For his seed remaineth in him. What does he mean, his seed remaineth in him? Well, my father's seed is in me.

I'm a Rogers. If you were to see my father, see me, you'd recognize that I am a child of Arden Duncan Rogers because his natural life is in me. And when I got saved, I am born again, not a corruptible seed, but an incorruptible by the Word of God. And there is a divine life principle that is in me.

And that principle gives me not only a new dynamic, but it gives me a new desire. One translation says God's nature abides in him. Well, what is God's nature? God's nature is holiness. Look in verse 7.

Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. If Jesus Christ is in you through the new birth, not only are you going to have a dynamic, you're going to have a new desire. You know, I believe in eternal security.

I hope you do. I believe that once you get saved, you can never again be unsaved any more than I could ever be unborn. I'm born of God. When I was born physically, that was settled as once and for all. When I was born again, that's settled as once and for all. I can't be unborn physically. I can't be unborn spiritually. But once I came to the Lord Jesus Christ and I got saved, God's nature came into me, and I now have the nature of God in me, and that nature of God in me says, I don't want to sin. You know, some people say, if I believe in eternal security, I'd get saved and I'd just sin all I want to.

I sin all I want to. I don't want to. If you want to, you need to get your wanter fixed.

No, you need a new wanter. You need to be born again. When you get a new dynamic, you get a new desire. From the moment I gave my heart to Jesus Christ and God is listening, there has been a desire in my heart to live for Him. If you don't have that desire, you better check up on this thing you call salvation.

Don't let anybody deceive you. He that committed sin is of the devil. That's the way the devil does it. He that is righteous has the Spirit of God in him. He is born of God. His seed remains in him. He has a new desire.

Does that make sense to you? Now here's the third and final thing. Now we're talking about we're being delivered now, not only from the penalty of sin and the power of Satan, but from the principle of self. I have a new dynamic. God's life is in me. I have a new desire. I want to be like Him because He is in me and I'm in Him and I'm abiding in Him and I have a new deterrent.

That's the third thing. Write that down, a new deterrent. It says here in this verse, and he cannot sin because he's born of God. He cannot sin because he's born of God.

Friend, if the God that I know lives in you, and again this is present continuous tense, you cannot habitually live in sin. You just can't do it. Friend, if Jesus Christ is in you, you cannot go on carelessly, thoughtlessly, continuously practicing a lifestyle of sin.

You just can't do it. Not if you're born again. God will carry you to the woodshed and beat the daylights out of you.

The Holy Spirit of God in you will tear you up. You will be under conviction and He, the Holy Spirit of God, will live in you and work in you and dwell in you because He is delivering you not only from the penalty of sin and the power of Satan, but from the principle of self. You are born again.

You have received a new nature and with that new nature you have a new dynamic, a new desire, and a new deterrent. You're living for Jesus. There is the rebellion that proves our sinfulness.

Sin is the transgression of the law. There is the righteousness that proclaims our sonship. That's the way we know that we've been saved. There is the redemption that provides our salvation. That redemption redeems us from the penalty of sin, from the power of Satan, and from the principle of self.

Now the Bible says let a man examine himself whether he be in the faith. Are you saved? This will be your last moment. Do you absolutely know that you'd go to heaven? And if you are not certain that you're saved, would you pray this prayer right now?

Dear God, I have broken your law. I am a sinner and my sin deserves judgment, but I need mercy. I need to be redeemed from the penalty of my sin. I need to be redeemed from the power of Satan. I need to be redeemed from the principle of self. I need to be saved from me. Oh, Lord Jesus, thank you for paying for my sin with your blood on the cross. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for taking my place. Now by faith I accept you, I receive you into my heart as my Lord and Savior.

Take control of my life right now and begin now to make me the person you want me to be and help me never to be ashamed of you. In your name I pray, amen. Amen. And if you've prayed to receive Jesus Christ just now, we would love to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page. There at the website you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith. We have a response section, you can share your testimony or how this message has made a difference in your life. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab at the top that says Discover Jesus. Welcome to God's forever family.

We can't wait to hear from you today. Now if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call 1-877-LOVE-GOD and mention the title Real Salvation. This message is also part of the insightful series Sweetest Fellowship This Side of Heaven. For the complete collection, all 11 powerful messages, call 1-877-LOVE-GOD or order online at lwf.org slash radio or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Have you experienced real salvation through Jesus Christ?

Is there evidence in your life that you've been redeemed, a new dynamic desire and deterrent from sin? We're so glad you joined us for our study in God's word and tune in next time for more from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. Here's a message from a listener that really encouraged us. I listen to Adrian Rogers every morning as part of my daily devotions on the radio. What a man of God he was and still is to so many people.

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