"Hope is Manifested by Righteousness" (1 John 2:29)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/26/2024 11:18 PM

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus: PT-1 “Hope is Manifested by Righteousness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  1 John 2:29

 

            Message of the verses:  “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

 

            Now think about this truth as we begin to look at this verse, and the truth is that the new birth is inevitably and necessarily accompanied by righteousness.  The righteousness that a person receives when being born-again comes from what Jesus Christ did on the cross which paid for the sins of those who have or will accept Christ as their Savior and Lord.  God sees those who are born-again as being in Christ, which means that they are righteousness, and I realize that this is the greatest miracle that anyone can receive.  When a person is truly born-again then their lives will begin to reflect the righteousness that was given to them.  By the same token, all who profess to be saved but do not demonstrate any tangible fruit of righteousness prove that they are actually unforgiven and have an empty hope.  “43 "For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. 44 “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush” (Luke 6:43-44).”  “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).”  Such individuals can make no legitimate claim to eternal promises, since their lives betray a heart that is still unregenerate.

 

            John MacArthur writes “It is important to understand the different meanings of the words rendered know in this verse.  The first occurrence is from oida and has the sense of perceiving an absolute truth, whereas the second occurrence (from ginosko) conveys ‘to know by experience,’  ‘recognize,’ or ‘come to perceive.’  The apostle John asserts first that if believers know that God is righteous, they can recognize that everyone also who practices righteousness is reflecting His life (cf.1 Peter 1:13-16); that is, they are born of Him (1 Peter 1:3; cf. John 3:7, where the same verb translated born is used).  Thus John reiterates the point that real believers are not verified so much by what they claim as by how they live (Rom. 6:18; cf. Luke 1:6).”

 

            Now John’s call to personal holiness was not a new concept, as the book of Leviticus repeatedly sets for God’s standard of purity and righteousness.  Thinking about this it is no wonder that younger Jewish children had to memorize the entire book of Leviticus.  Now in he New Testament, Paul’s letters continually exhort believers to pursue holiness and Romans 12:1-2 is a notable and familiar example:

 

1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

            MacArthur concludes:  “In this verse, the apostle John looks from the effect (righteous behavior) to the cause (the new birth) and shows that righteous living—not mere outward profession—evidences that fact that regeneration has truly take place (James 2:20, 26; 2 Peter 3:11; cf. Rom. 14:17).”

 

12/26/2024 11:52 PM