1 John 3:4-10
Notes
Transcript
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
1 John 34-10
Let’s pray before we read our text this morning:
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
What in the world? What do we do with this passage of Scripture? I mean it has some pretty hard things inhere doesn’t it? Should we just skip it and keep on going and try to forget what it just said…act like we didn’t see it?
Lets recap some highlights:
if you make a practice of sinning you practice lawlessness (that doesn’t sound good)
In Christ there is NO SIN so if you’re a Christian...
Christians don’t keep on sinning.
No one who is
Christians don’t keep on sinning.
If you keep on sinning you don’t know Christ.
Righteous people practice righteousness (are you righteous)
if you make a practice of sinning you are of the devil and not of God.
No one born of God practices sinning
its impossible it says in verse 9
if you don’t practice righteousness then you are not of God
If you do not love your brother you are not of God.
Again, when we do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ I believe this is the way we read the Bible…a bunch of “do’s and don’t’s”.
So this passage is pretty intimidating when we read it this way isn’t it?
I have some good news for you…this text is an encouragement to the Christian but we have to read it correctly.
Remember …why this whole letter was written.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
If this letter was written so that those who believe in the Name of the Son of God may KNOW that they have eternal life and we come to a text that makes us question if we have eternal life then we might need to pump the breaks and start digging a little deeper and try to come to a better understanding of what is being said.
Lets do that…What is God telling us Christians here?
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness”
The context here is that the false teachers were saying that they had reached a higher level of spirituality where moral failures didn’t exist. The things of the flesh did not matter anymore…it was all based on “spirituality”. So what they did in the body didn’t matter. The way they acted did not matter. How they actually lived this life did not matter. What mattered was the “spiritual” things. Sound familiar? This has crept back into our churches today hasn’t it? What the Word of God clearly tells us doesn’t matter anymore as long as we just “love” people, as long as we are “tolerant”. What matters today is NOT God’s Word but what our culture deems right. Again, this is why John starts off this letter the way he does…trust the apostolic writings.
This is talking about an open defiance of the law. An open defiance of what God says. A “I could not care less what God says”. It never crosses your mind, it doesn’t bother the person that he/she is breaking God’s law. You live in a world where there is no law of God. You might ‘know’ God’s law because you were raised in America, the south, or because your parents brought you to church when you were young but your sin does not affect you one way or the other.
And this is who we were before Christ saved us isn’t it? Think of your life before Christ...
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Ephesians 2:1-
Look at verse 5 and 6
You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
John says, “you know”… “you know” what?
1 John
That Christ appeared in order to take away sins
In Him, In Christ, there is NO SIN.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
Then John tells us that “NO one who abides in him [in this sinless Jesus] keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him”.
Remember what John said in Chapter 2?
Look back at 2:4
Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
How is that? How is it that “no one who abides in him keeps on sinning”?
See that word “abide” again? We’ve been talking about it throughout this letter. It means to rest, to continue a certain state, condition, or activity.
If we are abiding in Christ, if we are resting in Him, if we are continuing IN HIM then we will NOT keep on sinning. We sin when we take our eyes off of Christ, when we stop abiding in Him. When we think we can do it on our own sin is right there waiting like a lion to devour us.
VERSE 6B: “no one who keeps on sining has either seen him or known him”.
Look back at Chapter 2:4
Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
This “knowing him” is not an intellectual “knowledge” but an intimate knowledge of Him.
If we CONTINUE sinning then we haven’t truly experienced the overwhelming love of God.
The one who truly sees Christ for who he truly is and realizes what he has done for you on your behalf is the one who truly abides in Him.
Lets look at verses 7-8
Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
Little Children: They are easily deceived aren’t they? They don’t know much at a young age do they? You put children in a room full of flashing lights and some sort of entertainment they will sit there mesmerized, almost like they are in a trance. They are vulnerable aren’t they? They can be exploited.
The same thing can happen to new believers, “children” in the faith. They don’t know any better and they will listen to whoever as long as they seem loving if they seem to know what they are talking about.
This was the case for the false teachers John is talking about. They seemed to be intelligent claiming they “knew” God. The only thing is that there actions did not match up with God’s Word.
“Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning”.
Practices: To behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior or attribute; conduct oneself.
IS THIS YOUR LIFE…WHICH ONE IS IT? YOU KNOW THIS...
(vs. 8b) “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil”
Why does evil still exist then right?
Why is the devil still at work today?
The victory has been won. Think ‘D-Day’. WWII was won when we stormed the beaches of Normandy. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time once the Allies stormed in. In the same way, the victory was won on the cross and it is just a matter of time before the war is over. The completion of God’s work awaits the completion of God’s purposes in bringing all the sons and daughters home and for His church to storm not the beaches of Normandy but the gates of hell. He is building His church all over the world. THEN...
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Look at verses 9-10
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
And here is the GOOD NEWS I was telling you about brothers and sisters in Christ…This is the good news of this passage.
If you are a Christian you sin…John is not saying that the Christian does not sin. John has already said in Chapter 1:8 that if we say we do not sin we are liars and the truth is not in us.
But the person born of God does not make a practice of sinning!
the Person born of God CANNOT keep on sinning! Thats good news! Don’t be scared Christian, be encouraged! Lets read it again...
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning”.... YOU KNOW WHY?
Because God’s seed abides in you!
Seed: descendants, posterity; offspring; race; character. Something of the nature nature of
You know WHY you won’t make a practice of sinning…because God’s SEED abides in you! THAT IS AMAZING!
IF that isn’t enough it gets better!
It says, “he cannot keep on sinning”.
You KNOW WHY the person born of God CANNOT keep on sinning?
because he has been BORN OF GOD.
The child always displays the character of his parent! God is our Father and we have been BORN OF HIM.
HIS SEED Abides in us. And like any seed that is planted it takes time to grow to maturity.
So when did God plant that seed in your heart? Can you look back on your Christian life and see growth? Can you see how you use to “practice” sin and how that seed is growing in your life. Sometimes it’s a slow grow, sometimes you have growth spurts but do you see it growing. If you have truly been born of God you cannot and will not continue living in sin. God will convict you fo the sin you hate and you will hate your sin. He will bring you to maturity as you abide in Him because HIs Word and His seed abides in You.
you will continually be conformed into the image of Christ
says,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
We have to be reminded continually of who we are in Christ…
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
So when we know this we understand verse 10
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
On the ground, we sin
God is conforming us into the image of Christ…we are continually being sanctified (made holy)
When He looks at us in Christ he sees his seed abiding in us and us abiding in Him...
“for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” ()
That is amazing GRACE!