May we look to the Lord in prayer.
Our Heavenly Father, our hearts do rejoice before
Thee.
Thou dost so love us as to give
Thy only begotten Son to us.
He is in us as our life, as
our everything.
O our Father, we do thank Thee for
this precious gift.
We ask Thee that we may discover Him
more and more, that we may know His
power within us.
We may know His character, His nature within
us.
That by Thy Spirit daily we may be
conformed, transformed and conformed to His image.
That Thou may get all the praise and
the glory.
We just commit this time into Thy hands.
And I ask Thy Spirit to give us
revelation and utterance.
In Thy precious name, Amen.
We are studying together the first letter of
John.
We mentioned at the very outset that the
gospel of John is on life.
Eternal life.
The life that comes by believing in Jesus
as the Christ, the Son of the Living
God.
The life of Christ.
Christ is that life.
And the first letter of John is on
fellowship.
Life in action.
This life that has been given to us,
we who have received that life, we are
called into the fellowship of God's Son Jesus
Christ.
We are to fellowship with the Father and
with the Son and with one another.
Now we mentioned also that the fellowship we
are called into is the fellowship of God's
Son.
He is the substance of our fellowship.
We fellowship with Christ.
With the Christ that has been revealed and
experienced by us.
And we fellowship on the basis of Him.
That is, of His life.
Now this fellowship has no other ground but
the ground of life.
For the ground of Christ.
We do not try to make any other
thing as the ground of our fellowship.
Therefore this fellowship is most inclusive.
It includes all God's people who have His
life.
And yet it is very exclusive because anything
that is not of life, that is not
of Christ, does not enter into that fellowship.
So when it comes down to this matter
of the reality of fellowship, the practice of
fellowship, we find there are three conditions that
must be met.
The first we mentioned yesterday morning, for fellowship
to be real and living, it must be
in life.
And by life it doesn't mean understanding of
the Scripture.
It is life.
But by life here you'll find it is
God is life.
In Him was life.
And the life was the life of man.
We have the life of Christ in us.
And this life within us is our life.
It shines upon our path.
And by this life we walk.
If we walk in the life as God
is in the life, we have fellowship one
with another and the blood of Jesus Christ
God's Son cleanses us from all our sins.
As we walk in the life that has
been given to us, we begin to grow
in life from children to young people and
to the fathers.
Now this morning we would like to continue
on with the second condition of fellowship.
If we want to see that our fellowship
is real, is living, is unhinged, is full,
the fellowship must be in righteousness.
So let us read a portion.
1 John chapter 2 verse 29.
If ye know that He is righteous, know
that everyone who practices righteousness is begotten of
Him.
See what love the Father has given to
us that we should be called the children
of God.
For this reason the world knows us not
because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now we are children of God and
what we shall be has not yet been
manifested.
We know that if it be manifested we
shall be like Him for we shall see
Him as He is.
And everyone that has this hope in Him
purifies himself even as he is pure.
Everyone that practices sin practices also lawlessness and
sin is lawlessness.
And ye know that He has been manifested
that He might take away our sins and
in Him sin is not.
Whoever abides in Him does not sin.
Whoever sins has not seen Him or known
Him.
Children, let no one lead you astray.
He that practices righteousness is righteous even as
He is righteous.
He that practices sin is of the devil
for from the beginning the devil sinned.
To this end the Son of God has
been manifested that He might undo the works
of the devil.
Whoever has been begotten of God does not
practice sin because His seed abides in Him
and he cannot sin because he has been
begotten of God.
In this are manifested the children of God
and the children of the devil.
Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of
God.
And he who does not love his brother
for this is the message which he has
heard from the beginning that we shall love
one another.
There is no fellowship if we are not
of the same kind.
As light has no fellowship with darkness so
righteousness has no fellowship with sin.
We are told that God is righteous.
This is His very nature.
Just like light is God's nature.
God is open, transparent, full of light, nothing
hidden, no shadow nor shade, glorious.
That is the very nature of God.
And to have fellowship with God there must
be the same kind of condition within us.
There must be openness in us to be
transparent as far as our light goes.
There shouldn't be anything hidden.
And if we are of the same kind
of light, if we walk in the light
as God is in the light, then we
have fellowship one with another.
Not only with other father and the son
but also with one another.
Likewise, God is righteous.
Therefore for us to have fellowship with God
we must practice righteousness.
Now what is righteousness?
Righteous simply means it is right, it is
just, without prejudice, no partiality.
It is the quality of God.
God is righteous in all His ways.
God is righteous in all His doings.
God is righteous in all His judgments.
Righteousness is the very nature of God.
He is right.
He cannot be but right.
Whatever He thinks, whatever He feels, whatever He
does, whatever He says, everything of God is
just right.
Just what it ought to be.
There is no compromise, there is no accommodation,
He does not bend to anything, but is
just what it should be.
Now that is what our God is.
He is righteous.
Therefore anyone who desires to have fellowship with
God, he must does righteousness.
Righteousness simply means the quality, the character of
being right and just.
But dear brothers and sisters, we all know
there is none righteous.
Not even one.
What sometimes we consider as our righteousness, according
to the prophet Isaiah, we are told that
our righteousness are as filthy rags.
They are not only rags full of holes
that cannot cover our nakedness before God, but
they are even filthy in the eyes of
God.
The best that we consider we have, the
merits, the good deeds, the good actions, that
we consider to be of some pride to
us, they are as filthy rags in the
sight of God.
We have no righteousness.
We do not practice righteousness.
We are not right at all.
But thank God in Romans chapter 3 we
are told that there is the righteousness of
God that comes upon all who believe in
the Lord Jesus.
The righteousness of God.
What does it mean?
It simply means that in forgiving our sins,
in justifying us, God is still just.
He is just, and He justifies us.
Now that is the righteousness of God.
How can the just God justify us sinners?
If God said He would forgive our sins,
that is merciful.
That is very gracious.
But that would compromise God being just.
But thank God He has a way to
justify us sinners, and yet He remains to
be just.
And that is called the righteousness of God.
Of course we know that He accomplishes this
by giving His only begotten Son to us.
He who has no sin is made sin
for us.
And that is the way that we find
the righteousness of God comes upon all who
believe in Jesus Christ.
And as we believe in the Lord Jesus,
we are clothed with the robe of righteousness.
And this robe of righteousness is none other
but Christ Himself.
So in other words, we who believe in
the Lord Jesus, we who are justified by
God, we are clothed with Christ.
And now Christ is made unto us righteousness.
What does it mean?
Christ is made unto us righteousness.
It simply means that He gives us a
right standing before God.
Formerly we cannot come to the presence of
God without being slain.
No one can enter into the presence of
God without being killed.
Because He is just, He is right, and
we are full of sins and iniquities.
God has to judge us.
But now as we are clothed with Christ,
Christ is made righteousness unto us.
We can boldly enter into the wholeness of
all.
We can boldly come to the throne of
grace.
We can approach God with a holy boldness.
Not because we have merit, not because we
are worthy.
We are never worthy.
But because we are clothed with Christ.
As God looks at us, He sees Christ,
our righteousness.
He does not see us.
And that gives us a standing before God.
And that standing is a permanent standing.
To put it in a way, we may
change, but our righteousness never changes.
Sometimes, you know, dear brothers and sisters, if
you get up in the morning and you
have a good night's sleep, and the sun
is shining, and you feel very happy, when
you go to God to pray, you feel
you are full of confidence, knowing that you
can stand before God.
But if you wake up in the morning
and you had a sleepless night, you had
a headache, and it was gloomy outside, you
do not feel as much confidence as the
other day in approaching God.
Why?
Because, somehow, we still have that misconception that
if we approach God, there must be some
merit in us.
But dear brothers and sisters, it has nothing
to do with it.
We have no merit whatsoever.
Christ is our only merit, and He never
changes.
No matter how you feel.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Therefore, our standing before God, our approach to
God never changes.
But dear brothers and sisters, that is our
position.
When you come down into our daily experience
of fellowship, then you find there is an
if-there.
If we have fellowship with God who is
righteous, we must practice righteousness.
What do you mean by practice or do
righteous?
Here you find it is more than just
once in a while you do something right.
It means that He that practices righteousness, and
the word practice is a word of continuation.
If you continue to do right, if you
live in righteousness, if you practice righteousness as
a habitual thing, then you have fellowship with
God.
It is not just an isolated, some isolated
single act of right.
But it is a continuous life in righteousness.
And that is the meaning here.
He who practices righteousness is begotten of God.
How can we live a righteous life?
So that we may have fellowship with God
who is righteous.
You cannot live such a righteous life unless
you are begotten of God.
In other words, to practice righteousness is not
a condition to be the children of God.
On the contrary, to practice righteousness is the
consequence of being children of God.
Thank God we have no righteousness in us.
We are not able to live a righteous
life.
But thank God we are begotten of God.
Not only do we have a right standing
before God being enclosed with Christ, but Christ
is within us as our life.
O dear brothers and sisters, you find we
have not only a position, an ascending, being
enclosed with Christ, our righteousness, but you find
that Christ within us is righteousness unto us.
This very life of Christ is a righteous
life.
This very life of Christ has the habit
of doing just the right thing.
Not that we can do the right thing,
but He always does the right thing.
And because He is our life, therefore you'll
find He who is begotten of God practices
righteousness.
Righteousness, what is the standard of righteousness?
In this world you'll find people take the
law of the land, the custom of the
country, the opinion, the public opinion of the
people as the standard of righteousness.
If you keep the law of the land,
if you follow the custom of the country,
if according to the public opinion they consider
you as all right, then you are in
the eyes of man as being righteous.
But man can be righteous in the eyes
of man and be very sinful in the
eyes of God.
What is the standard of righteousness?
The standard of righteousness is none other but
God Himself.
He is the standard of righteousness.
And that's the reason why sin is lawlessness.
Sin is not only a transgression of a
law.
Sin is lawlessness.
In other words, sin is an affront to
the very character of God.
It is lawlessness.
How can we be righteous?
How can we practice righteousness?
With God Himself as the standard.
Again, we have to go back and see.
It is not us.
It is Christ in us.
He who practices righteousness is begotten of God.
And when the Apostle John comes to this
point, suddenly he breaks out in worship.
He says, see, what love the Father has
given to us that we shall be called
the children of God.
That's the secret.
When you come to the point of practicing
righteousness and you know that you cannot do
it, it is just impossible with you.
And then suddenly you realize that you are
begotten of God.
See, what men of love the Father has
bestowed upon us that we are called the
children of God.
We are not only called the children of
God, but we are the children of God
because we are begotten of Him.
In other words, you'll find it is the
love of the Father that begets us.
Give us a new life.
Give us Christ as our life.
And with this life in us, doing right
is now available to every child of God.
Is it not true that when you first
come to the Lord Jesus, there is not
only an outward change of position from being
condemned to be justified, but there is also
an inward change.
You'll find anyone who is begotten of God,
there is a constitutional change within him.
Formerly, you loved sin.
Sin is your very life.
You get pleasure out of sinning.
But after you believe in the Lord Jesus,
there is an inward change within you.
You'll find that you begin to abhor sin,
and you begin to love righteousness.
A change has come upon you within you.
Anyone who said he is safe, and yet
he still loves sin, and he does not
abhor sin, it is very questionable whether he
is born again because it is more than
an outward change of position.
There is a constitutional change.
Even though through weakness you may still fall
and sin, and yet, within you, you'll find
there is an abhorrence toward sin.
You do not want to sin anymore.
You consider sin as a horrible thing to
do.
And on the other hand, you'll find you
do have a desire to be right.
You do have a desire to do the
will of God.
What is righteousness?
It is none other but the will of
God.
No matter how weak you are, you may
not have the strength to do the will
of God.
To will is in me, but to do
is not in me, and yet you do
will to do the will of God because
you want to please the Father.
To do right is no longer a matter
of trying to appease your conscience.
To do right becomes a matter of trying
to please your Father.
That is the difference, the great difference.
You know, formerly sometimes we tried to do
a few good things in order to appease
our conscience, to bribe our conscience, but no
longer.
Today we do want to do right, we
do want to do the will of God.
There is a desire within us because we
want to please the Heavenly Father.
Think of our Lord Jesus.
In Psalm 40 we are told, our Lord
said, And lo, I come to do thy
will, O God!
Thy will I come to do is my
pleasure, and thy law is written in my
heart.
Now this is a family likeness.
Our Father is righteous, and all who are
begotten of the Father love righteousness.
If we do not practice righteousness, if we
do not live our righteous life, by that
we mean to do the will of God,
where is the family resemblance?
How can people see that we are like
the Father?
And thank God you find that the life
is in us.
We are able to do right, righteous in
the sight of God.
Beloved, now are we children of God, and
what we shall be has not yet been
manifested.
We know that if it is manifested, we
shall be like Him.
For we shall see Him as He is.
We are the children of God.
We are born of God.
We have the life in us.
Therefore you find there is willingness, there is
desire to do right, to do the will
of God to please our Father.
And as we are living a righteous life,
we do not know what will happen in
the future.
But we do know that when it is
manifested, we shall be like Him.
Because we shall see Him.
This is our blessed hope.
What is our hope?
Our hope is one day we shall be
like Him.
As our Lord Jesus is.
So we shall be like Him.
As He lives on this earth, and what
a righteous life He lives.
As our brother already mentioned, you find that
His whole life on earth is I can
do nothing of myself.
Whatever I do, I do it because I've
seen the Father have done it.
I cannot say anything of myself.
Whatever I say is because I've heard the
Father has said it.
And you'll find the whole life of our
Lord Jesus is to do the Father's will.
The Gospel says He goes around everywhere doing
good.
And by doing good it doesn't mean simply
that He does some good deeds.
No, doing good simply means He does the
will of the Father.
Everything He does is doing the will of
the Father.
That is His delight.
That is the way that He lives.
If it is the Father's will that He
should go to Calvary, He should go to
the cross, then Thy will be done.
And this is a righteous life.
This is practicing righteousness.
Now dear brothers and sisters, we have this
hope before us.
One day we shall see Him as He
is and we shall be like Him.
And with this blessed hope before us, it
should purify us.
It should give us additional incentive to press
on to live a righteous life like He
does.
Today we are only a little bit like
Him.
There is a little bit of family resemblance
that can be seen.
But one day we will be like Him
as He is.
We will be conformed to His image.
Fully grown into sonship.
Oh, brothers and sisters, it means that one
day we shall be like Him, conformed to
His image.
His character shall characterize us.
His personality will be fully manifested through us.
What a glorious hope it is!
And all because life is already in us.
And the process is already begun.
As the life of Christ begins to live
in and through us, you find we begin
to grow in likeness to Him.
Until one day when we shall see Him,
we shall be.
And this hope ought to purify us.
Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness.
And sin is lawlessness.
You find the contrast here.
On the one hand is righteousness.
On the other hand is sin.
Righteousness, practiced righteousness, leads us to holiness.
To be like Him.
Sin is lawlessness.
It is rebelling against God.
But thank God He has provided salvation for
us.
And in the following verses you'll find several
things.
One is we know that He has been
manifested, that He might take away our sins.
That is the first point.
We who are full of sins, we live
a sinful life, and yet the Son of
God has been manifested, and the reason why
He is manifested is to take away our
sins.
When He was born, He was given the
name Jesus, who takes away our sins.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world.
He bore in His body our sins on
the tree that we may be dead to
sin and alive to righteousness.
He who knew no sin was made for
sin, made sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus came
into this world to destroy sin, to take
away our sins.
He bore our sins in His body on
the tree.
Our sins therefore are forgiven.
That is the first step.
Then the second thing you'll find here is
and in Him sin is not.
There is no sin in Him.
And because He is sinless, therefore He can
bear our sins on the cross.
But it is more than that.
In Him sin is not.
And this Him, this He, is now in
us, our life.
So dear brothers and sisters, we need to
realize that today as children of God we
have within us a sinless life.
A life that knows no sin.
Not only has never sinned but does not
even know what sin is because it has
never rebelled against God.
It always pleases the Father.
And this life is now in us.
Number three.
Whoever abides in Him does not sin.
Because we have Him in us.
He who is sinless, who has overcome, destroyed
sin itself.
Therefore whoever abides in Him, now here comes
our responsibility.
He is in us and yet, if we
want to practice righteousness, if we want to
overcome sin in our life, we must abide
in Him.
And the word abide simply means make home
in Him.
We must make our home in Him.
We must fellowship with Him.
We must commune with Him.
We must stay with Him.
We must remain with Him.
We must continue with Him as the branch
abides in the vine.
And if we abide in Him, what is
the result?
We do not sin.
If we do not abide in Him, if
we, so far as our experience goes, if
we come out, as it were, positionally never,
but in our experience, if we begin to
walk in the flesh, if we begin to
live by our own old life, that was
already crucified.
If we do not live by the life
of Christ, then there is still the possibility
of sinning.
But on the other hand, if we abide
in Him, we do not sin.
Why?
Because we live by His life.
And His life cannot sin.
His life never knows what is sin.
Always do the right thing and please the
Father.
So here you'll find number three, whoever abides
in Him does not sin.
And number four, whoever sins has not seen
Him or known Him.
If anyone should sin, it simply means you
do not see Him or know Him at
the time when you sin.
It doesn't mean that you have never known
Him.
But it comes down to your current experience.
At the moment you sin, you have not
seen Him.
You do not know Him.
If you see Him, if you know Him,
you cannot sin.
Because He is your life and He lives
in you.
You know, brothers and sisters, some people have
problems with this passage.
Because so far as our experience goes, thank
God sometimes we are able to overcome sin.
We do not sin.
But at other times we still sin.
And yet the Apostle John said, He who
practices sin is of the devil.
He does not know God nor sin God.
And he who practices righteousness is of God.
And this is the way we know who
are the children of God and who are
the children of the devil.
Now, brothers and sisters, we do find a
problem here.
Are we children of God?
Are we children of the devil?
We know we are born again.
We know we are children of God.
But how come that we live in the
gray area?
Now, with Apostle John, it is either light
or darkness.
It is either righteousness or sin.
There is no middle ground.
Why?
Because if we look with God's eyes, truth
is absolute.
With God in truth, there is no middle
ground, no mixture.
It is absolute.
It is either this or that.
Either it is truth or lies.
Either it is light or darkness.
There is no twilight.
Either it is righteousness or sin.
Lawlessness.
If you look from God's viewpoint, the truth
is absolute.
But of course, when you look at it
from our experience, you find things beginning to
be relative.
But no matter what our experience is, the
truth has not changed.
The truth remains the same.
We have two problems here.
Some people, when they read this portion, they
think, well, he who is begotten of God
cannot sin.
Because the seed of him, of God, is
in him.
He does not sin and he cannot sin.
Thank God I am a child of God.
I am begotten of God, therefore I cannot
sin.
I am sinless perfect.
You find among Christians there is a teaching
of sinless perfection.
When I was saved, I was saved among
the holiness people.
Even though I was a Methodist.
I was saved among the holiness people.
And the holiness people have the teaching of
the eradication of the root of sin.
You, after you are converted, you are saved,
you shall go through a second experience, second
blessing, and have the root of sin eradicated,
and from then on you will never sin.
You are sinless perfect.
It is a very attractive teaching.
But right at the conference when I was
saved, I saw the founder of that work
lost her temper in public.
Yet he continued not sin.
It was just a weakness.
What did he say?
Only Christ is sinless perfect.
The life that is in you who is
Christ is sinless perfect.
It never sins, it cannot sin, it does
not sin.
But so long as we still have the
flesh, we still live in this world, there
is yet a possibility of sinning.
And when we sin, call it a sin.
Do not try to cheat ourselves.
We are not sinless perfect.
Survival is Christian perfection, but not sinless perfection.
Now what is Christian perfection?
Christian perfection is if we abide in Him,
we do not sin.
Now that is Christian perfection.
But here you will find there is another
problem.
Some people go to that extreme.
He who sins does not see God nor
know Him.
Therefore you can be unsaved again.
You are saved, now you sin.
You have not seen God, not know God,
therefore you are unsaved.
And you have to be saved and unsaved,
unsaved and get saved, and it is just
going up and down, heaven and hell all
the time.
You do not know where you will end
up.
Now let's go into the other extreme.
Because Apostle John is not teaching about our
initial salvation.
So far as our initial salvation comes, it
is already settled.
It is already finished.
It is already settled in Christ.
What he tries to tell us actually, instead
of telling you that your salvation can be
lost, he is trying to tell you that
your salvation can be secured eternally.
If you abide in Him, you do not
sin.
But dear brothers and sisters, practicing righteousness is
shown in two different areas.
Negatively, the absence of sin.
And sin is lawlessness.
Number two, the presence of love.
How do we know that we practice righteousness?
How do we know that we live a
life as He, the righteous, lives?
We know that we practice righteousness because we
do not sin.
We are not lawless before God.
We know that we practice righteousness because we
love the brethren.
We love the brethren.
He who is the righteous loves us so
much as to give His life for us.
As our brother quoted this morning, John chapter
13, He loves us all and He loves
them to the end, to the uttermost.
He who is the righteous, He gives His
life.
And as He loves us, we ought to
love.
As He lays down His life for us,
we ought to lay down our life for
our brethren.
And do not love in words, but love
in deeds, in truth, in practice, love in
practical matters.
And by loving, we know we are doing
the right thing.
We are doing the will of the Father.
We are pleasing Him.
So dear brothers and sisters, here again you'll
find how we need to live righteousness before
God and before men.
Then it comes to the matter of the
heart.
You'll find in chapter 3, verse 19, And
hereby we shall know that we are of
the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before
Him, that if our hearts condemn us, God
is greater than our hearts and knows all
things.
Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, we
have boldness towards God, and whatsoever we ask,
we receive from Him, because we keep His
commandments and practice the things which are pleasing
in His sight.
And this is the commandment, that we believe
on the name of His Son Jesus Christ,
and that we love one another, even as
He has given us commandments.
If we walk in the light, as He
is in the light, we find that the
Holy Spirit will lighten our intuition.
The Holy Spirit will shine upon our spirit,
purchase our intuition power, and allow us to
know Him intuitively.
And now you'll find if we practice righteousness,
or if we sing, here the Spirit of
God will touch our heart, and by the
heart here, it simply means conscience.
Of course, the heart includes more than conscience,
but here, particularly, you'll find it means our
conscience.
How do we know that we practice righteousness?
When?
How do we know that we have sinned?
The Holy Spirit within us will touch our
conscience, and if our conscience condemns us, then
we have sinned.
If our conscience approves, then we have done
right before God.
So dear brothers and sisters, you know our
Christian conscience is very, very important for our
practical living.
Before we were saved, our conscience was not
dependable.
Even though it wasn't dependable, yet at the
time that we are saved, actually the Holy
Spirit touched our conscience, and convinced us, and
bring us to repentance.
But now our conscience is purified, is cleansed.
Dear brothers and sisters, how can we walk
rightly before God?
Be careful.
Walk according to the dictate of your conscience.
Why God is speaking through your conscience.
If anyone should lose his conscience, he is
like a shipwreck.
His faith will leak out.
If we have a good conscience before God,
it gives us boldness and confidence.
And know that our prayers will be answered.
So you know how important it is for
Christians to maintain a good conscience.
A conscience void of offense.
A conscience cleansed by the precious blood.
If our heart condemns us, God's heart is
great of course.
Our conscience is not perfect yet.
Our conscience needs to be developed.
Just as light needs to be developed.
Our conscience gradually becomes more and more sensitive
as we follow our conscience, following God.
Things that we are not conscious of, we
begin to be conscious.
Things that we think is all right, now
begin to see that it is not right.
So you find that as the Spirit of
God begins, as light begins to grow in
us, our conscience ought to grow in sensitivity.
And if we walk with our heart uncondemned
before God, we are accepted.
That doesn't mean our heart is complete.
It simply means according to the degree of
life that we are in, we can stand
before God with a clear conscience.
And then you'll find our fellowship will be
uninterrupted.
Oh, how it is important that we maintain
a good conscience so that our fellowship with
the Father and with the Son is uninterrupted.
How we need to maintain a good conscience
that our fellowship with our brothers and sisters
will not be under any cloud.
Whenever our conscience is under cloud, you avoid
your brothers and sisters, and you avoid God.
You know it.
So dear brothers and sisters, how we need
to live before God and live righteously.
But thank God it is not by ourselves.
It is the life of Christ within us.
The Holy Spirit is just.
Bring out the life of Christ within us.
And patiently incorporate Christ into us.
So that finally you'll find we are clothed
not only with a robe of rock gold,
which is Christ our righteousness, but over above
it, a garment of embroidery.
The Holy Spirit will stitch needle by needle,
Christ into our life.
As He does the work, of course with
every needle there may be a little pain
there.
But after the work is done you'll find
a beautiful garment of embroidery.
And in Revelation chapter 19, the bride has
made herself ready and she is given the
garment of pure living, bright and shining, which
is the righteousnesses of the faith.
And this is what John is talking about.
He is talking about practical righteousness.
He is talking about how we need to
live righteously before God in this world.
And thus our fellowship will not be hindered.
I think we will just stop here.
Shall we pray?
Our Heavenly Father, how we praise and thank
Thee that Thou who art righteous Thou hast
justified us.
Thou hast given Thy Son to us as
our righteousness, as our life.
How we praise and thank Thee that Thy
Holy Spirit is working Christ continuously in us,
that we may be transformed and be conformed
to His image, that we may practice righteousness,
we may not sin, and we may do
the will of Thee.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that
all these things are open to us, are
available to us.
We just cast ourselves upon Thee and say,
Lord, perfect Thy work enough that Thy name
may be glorified in Thy precious name.
Amen.