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Season 1, Episode 34
For Thursday, February 19, 2015
“Got Hope?”
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Episode Transcript:
Welcome to The New You, where we focus on maintaining and accentuating the new that Christ has created in you. I’m Robert Hatfield, and here is today’s scripture:
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3).
Christians are people of hope. Biblical hope has been defined as desire plus expectation to go to heaven. I like that definition. Make no mistake about it, Christians don’t deserve to go to heaven. That’s not what it means to have expectation in hope. The Bible is clear – we are saved by grace (Titus 3:4-7). Nevertheless, we are people of hope. We hope in God’s promises, and God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). He has promised us that those who are obedient to His Will and who, in their obedience, receive the gift of grace will be allowed into heaven. And that’s hope!
In 1 John 3:3, we find the promise, the precedent and the pattern for Christians who wish to have their hope realized in eternity.
The Promise
John says, “And everyone who has this hope in Him …” (1 John 3:3). That is, hope in Jesus. If you back up to verse two you see that John has just stated that we will see Him as He is. Then he says, “everyone who has this hope.” We have a promise from the Word of God that we will see Jesus, that we will get to be with Him forever (1 Thes. 4:13-18). You can bank on that promise!
The Precedent
Salvation is conditioned upon our obedience to God. Having identified the promise, John then offers a precedent, something that must be done in order for us to receive that promised reward. “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself,” John writes. That word “purifies” is in the present active indicative in the Greek, which could be literally translated, “keeps on purifying.” If we stop purifying ourselves, then we loose the hope that we have.
We need to be clear about something: John isn’t teaching perfectionism by saying that we should purify ourselves. He’s actually teaching the exact opposite of that. We will continually purify ourselves in order to lay hold of eternal life.
The Pattern
Look how the verse ends: “… just as He is pure.” Once again, Jesus is placed before as our Supreme example. His purity is eternal and unchangeable. If we’ll pattern our thoughts after His mind (Phil. 2:5; 1 Pet. 4:1), then we will be pure in our thoughts, words, and actions.
Let’s wrap it up: Let’s place 1 John 3:3 back into its context. John has just referenced the incredible honor of being a child of God. Then, he notes that, as God’s children, we have hope. Because of that honor and that hope, we will seek to be pure. After all, we represent the One Whose name we wear! Let’s wear the name Christian in the way that God intends for us to wear it – with purity, integrity, and loyalty to God and to the cause of Christ.
Memory Verse: We have almost memorized each of the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-10. Today, we continue working to memorize Matthew 5:7:
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy (Mat. 5:7).
Thanks for joining me today for The New You. This podcast is a production of The Light Network. You can find us at thelightnetwork.tv. You’ll also find show notes for today’s episode, archives of this show, and more Christian podcasts that I know you’ll enjoy. That’s thelightnetwork.tv.
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Questions? Comments? Concerns? Contact me by email at robert@thelightnetwork.tv or by voicemail, by calling 903-26-LIGHT, that’s 903-265-4448. I’d love to hear from you!
The Bible gives us a great definition of sin, and it’s found right here in 1 John. Tomorrow, we’ll take a closer look at sin. I’ll meet you then for The New You.
