1 2015, Reverend Steve Carlson Tabernacle Baptist Church West National Avenue West Allis, Wisconsin

Transcription

1 I. Introduction What Are You? June 28, John 3:1-10 Verse 10 is the key verse of this whole chapter: This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. Two signs of a true child of God are right living and loving others. These first 10 verses deal with the first topic right living or as other translations put it practicing righteousness. In these verses John reminded us that there are counterfeit Christians who are really children of the devil. This isn t the first time John wrote about right living and loving the brothers. He already wrote about them in the first 2 chapters what is different is the emphasis. The first 2 chapters dealt with fellowship a Christian who is in fellowship with God will practice right living and will love fellow Christians. In chapters 3-5, the emphasis is on sonship because a Christian is born of God, i.e. he is a child of God, he will practice right living and will love fellow Christians. Contrary to some translations, verses 6 and 9 do NOT imply that Christians do not sin. The NIV has it better a person born of God a Christian does not continue to sin, i.e. he doesn t sin contently or as a way of life. It doesn t refer to committing an occasional sin. No Christian is sinless 1 John 1:8 says, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. A true believer may commit sin, but he will not habitually sin. He may do an occasional wrong act, but he doesn t make a settled habit out of it. A person who has been born of God through faith in Jesus Christ knows intimately God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Because of this relationship, this knowing, a Christian lives a life of obedience; he doesn t practice or continue to sin. In today s Scripture, John gave 3 reasons for living a holy life. II. Three Reasons for Living a Holy Life Right Living A. First, God the Father loves us. John was amazed with wonder by the fact that sinners are saved through God s agape love as the chorus says, Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us. It s impossible to understand, let alone describe, God s love for us. While we were His enemies, God sent His Son to die for us! Salvation begins with the love of God. John says that we don t anticipate being sons of God sometime in the future; we are the children of God right now. The world doesn t have a clue what that means. Only a person who has 1

2 accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior can fully appreciate what it means to be called a child of God to have the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; to have as Philippians 4:7 says, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding. To have all this freely is unimaginable. It s even hard for believers to understand turn to Ephesians 3:17b-19a. But this love doesn t stop at the time of salvation. God s love continues throughout our lives up to the return of Jesus Christ and beyond. Turn to Philippians 3: When our Lord returns, all true believers will have new, glorified bodies--just like Him. Because God loves us, He wants us to live with Him forever. Thinking of God s amazing love and all that we have and all that we will be, John wrote in verse 3, Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. Since we have experienced the love of God the Father, we should have no desire to sin. Since we are expecting the coming of Jesus and living with Him in heaven, we should seek, with the help of Holy Spirit, to be purified. As Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14; Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. An unbeliever who sins is a creature sinning against his Creator; a Christian who sins is a child sinning against his Father. The unbeliever sins against the law; the believer sins against love. B. God the Son came and died for us. Turning from the love of God the Father, John turned to the 2 nd reason for living a holy life: God the Son came and died for us. John gave 2 reasons why Jesus came and died. 1. First, Jesus appeared to take away our sins. Sin is the transgression of the law Romans 3:20 says, Through the law we become conscious of sin. In verse 4, 1 John 3 John defined sin as lawlessness i.e. being defiant of the law. Sin is basically a matter of the will. For anyone to assert his will against God s will is rebellion and rebellion is the root or the heart of sin. It isn t that sin is revealed in lawless behavior; the very core of sin is lawlessness in the heart. No matter what an outward action may be, the sinner s inward attitude is one of rebellion. Let me give an example if you re a parent, you probably have a similar story. Little Judy was riding in the car with her father. She decided to stand up on the seat. Her father told her to sit down and put on the seat belt, but she refused. He told her a second time, and again she refused. Finally, her dad said, If you don t sit down immediately, I ll pull over to the side of the road and spank you! This time the little girl obeyed. But in a few minutes she said quietly, Daddy, I m still 2

3 standing up on the inside. Even though there was constraint from the outside, there was still rebellion on the inside this is lawlessness. Sin is seen in the attitude of the heart not just the actions. After a person becomes a child of God born of God through faith in Jesus Christ, he cannot practice lawlessness. He cannot keep sinning contently or as a way of life. A true Christian cannot keep sinning contentedly or as a way of life. He has obeyed Jesus command in Luke 9:23 that If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Jesus Christ is without sin and to live in Him means to be in fellowship with Him. To have fellowship with Christ means a Christian keeps from deliberately disobeying God s Word a true Christian denies himself and follows Christ. John wrote in verse 6 that a person who deliberately and continually sins is proving that he does not know Christ and therefore cannot live in Him. John said that, in spite of his words, such a person is not a Christian! 2. Jesus appeared to destroy the works of the devil. In 1 John 3:8 John wrote, The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil s work. This is the 2 nd reason Jesus came and died: Jesus appeared to destroy the works of the devil. Through His death on the cross, Jesus paid the debt for our sins, but that wasn t all He did. Through His death, Jesus broke the power of the sin in our lives. Christ not only died for each Christian, but each Christian dies with Christ. Turn to Romans 6: Sin is no longer the master of a Christian! The devil, Satan, is a rebel, but Jesus is the obedient Son of God. Philippians 2:8 says, He humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Jesus Christ is God but He was willing to become a servant. Satan was a servant but he wanted to become God. From the beginning of his career, the devil has been a sinner, and Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. In this case, destroy does not mean to exterminate. Destroy means to rend inoperative, to rob of power. Satan hasn t been annihilated, but his power has been reduced and his weapons have been impaired. He is still a mighty foe, but he is no match for the power of God for the power in each and every Christian. Today Satan is still opposing the plans and people of God, but believers are no longer Satan s children or under his rule turn to 1 Peter 5:6-9a. Satan is a defeated enemy. He may still win a few battles here and there, but he has already lost the war. He is like a snake in its death throes whipping around. A person who knows Christ, and who has been delivered from the bondage of sin through Christ s death on the cross has no desire or need to obey Satan and live like a rebel. 3

4 C. Finally, the 3 rd reason Christians should live a holy life is that God the Holy Spirit lives in us. John wrote in verse 9, No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God s seed remains in him. When a person receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, he is born again. The Holy Spirit comes to live in each believer. 1 Cor. 3:16 says, Don t you know that you yourselves are God s temple and that God s Spirit lives in you? The Holy Spirit indwells the Christian giving him a new nature a nature that does not and will not continue to sin. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. In the miracle of the new birth, the Holy Spirit gives new life God s life to a believing sinner, and as a result the individual is born into the family of God. Just as physical children bear the nature of their parents, so God s spiritual children bear His nature. The divine seed is in them. A Christian has an old nature from his physical birth and a new nature from his spiritual birth. The old nature produces sin, but the new nature leads one into a holy life. A Christian s responsibility is to live according to his new nature, not the old nature. John concluded this section by writing, This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. There are only two groups of people in the world the children of God and the children of the devil. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Children of God exhibit God s righteous character through obeying His law; children of the devil exhibit Satan s sinful character by disregarding the Word and continuing to sin. No matter what people may profess, or what past religious ritual or experience they may point to, John wrote that anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. A true believer does not practice sin; a counterfeit believer cannot help but practice sin, because he does not have God s new nature within him. A true believer also loves other Christians; we will see this in more detail next week in the second part of 1 John 3. III. Conclusion An unsaved person (even if he or she professes to be a Christian but is a counterfeit) lives a life of habitual sin continual sin. Sin especially the sin of unbelief is the normal thing in any unsaved life. Ephesians 2:1-3 puts it this way: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at 4

5 one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. The unsaved person has no divine resources to draw on. His profession of faith, if any, is not real. John said in these 10 verses that a true believer does not live in habitual sin continual sin. He may commit sin an occasional wrong act but he will not practice sin, i.e. make a settled habit of it. John wrote, Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. Counterfeit Christians John called them antichrists last week try to convince true believers that a person can be saved and still practice sin. John does not deny that Christians sin, but he does deny that Christians can live in sin. A person who can enjoy deliberate sin and who does not feel convicted or experience chastening had better examine himself to see whether or not he is really born of God. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:11-12, My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes the son he delights in. John didn t write these verses so that we might check out other people. They were written so that we may examine ourselves. What are you real or counterfeit? Here are some questions to ponder: Do you have the divine nature within you or are you merely pretending to be a Christian? Do you strive to be more Christ-like through daily Bible reading and prayer? Do you cherish sin in your heart? Are you willing to confess and forsake it? Do you allow your old nature to control your thoughts and desires, or does the divine nature rule you? When temptation comes, do you play with it or do you flee from it? Are you more comfortable with true Christians or with the unsaved? What are you real or counterfeit? 5