Obvious Christianity – Part 1
1 John 3:1-10 (1a)
April 10, 2022
As I studied the book of 1 John in preparation for our study through it together
It became clear to me that John’s work was one of extreme clarity.
In fact, I decided to name the study of this book “Obvious Christianity”
I came to that conclusion based primarily on VERSE 10.
“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
What becomes abundantly clear as you study this book
Is that John brings TWO BASIC ELEMENTS of the Christian life
To the forefront as absolute NON-NEGOTIABLES.
Those two elements are of course: Righteous Living & Brotherly Love
From John’s perspective there is no scenario
In which someone can claim Christianity
If he is void of either of those foundational aspects.
And anyone who would be void of righteous living or brother love and yet still claim to be a Christian…well, John would simply call them a liar.
• These two realities are basic Christianity.
• They are what it means to be a Christian in this world.
• They are the most obvious and necessary fruits of the Christian life.
And that is why John continually circles back to each of them.
In fact, we’ve already studied these ideas before in this book.
1 John 1:5-6 “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”
1 John 2:4 “The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;”
1 John 2:9-10 “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”
But clearly John is not finished.
These truths are so important, John is back on them again.
As seems to be common with John’s writing style, he makes a comment to conclude a thought,
But that comment at the same time seems to open up a whole new train of thought for him.
LAST WEEK, we concluded the segment about living in the last hour.
• It concluded with John’s encouragement to obey the word of God.
1 John 2:29 “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
That was advice for how to live here in the last hour
As we anticipate the return of Christ.
But it is also clear that the statement there
Catapulted John into another pointed dialogue.
John said, “you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
And now, it is evident that JOHN SETS OUT TO PROVE THAT.
So the first 10 verses of chapter 3 are all about
Why righteous living is not only important,
But is in fact a fruit of genuine salvation.
What has become abundantly clear to anyone watching today is that
Our culture is most certainly not concerned about righteousness.
By righteousness I mean God’s righteous standards
Our culture is greatly concerned about their own standards of woke goodness and political correctness, but very few of those ideologies are rooted in the Law of God.
We hear it in the language of the world.
• Profanity is common place.
• People don’t even seem to be able to speak without the proverbial “4 letter word”
We see it in the sexual immorality of the world.
• The sanctity of marriage has all but been obliterated.
• Living together has become commonplace.
• Homosexuality is celebrated
We see it in the materialism of the world.
• Lottery tickets and gambling
• Basic greed and overindulgence
There is today very little concern for what God has to say.
People don’t care if their behavior is offensive to God.
Pursuing righteousness is not even on the radar for most people.
Even though Jesus plainly taught us to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” that seems to be the last thing on the mind of the world.
Obeying God’s commands just isn’t important.
People would rather do what makes them feel good and what pleases them.
It’s just the world in which we live.
BUT THE CHRISTIAN IS COMMANDED TO BE SET APART.
Ephesians 4:17-19 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”
Christians are not sensual people they are sanctified people.
• Christians are those who crucify the flesh with its passions and desires.
• Christians are those who demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit.
• Christians are those who walk in obedience.
The simple point is that,
With a culture that is moving so rapidly toward sin,
It ought to make Christians stick out like a sore thumb.
And this is part of John’s point.
Even if the world is sinful, Christians are known by their righteousness.
And if you think that you can be a Christian while living like the world,
Then according to John, YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED.
(7-8a) “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices in is of the devil;”
If you are living in sin but claiming Christianity you have been deceived.
Now, it is important to state at the beginning that
WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT SINLESS PERFECTION.
Clearly John did not have that in mind either, for he wrote in chapter 1:
1 John 1:8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
• Clearly John understood that even Christians still fall into sin.
• Clearly John understood that Christians must confess their sin for forgiveness and cleansing.
We are also aware of the well-documented sin of believers even in the Bible.
The Bible doesn’t whitewash the characters it reveals.
• We are aware of Peter’s denial and his momentary legalism at Antioch.
• We are aware of Paul cursing the high priest after being struck.
• We are aware of the church at Corinth and their many shortcomings.
• We know the Galatians were foolish.
The Bible doesn’t teach that Christians never sin.
And that is not what John is saying.
The key is found in the often-used word of John “practices”.
John is not talking about momentary or random mistakes.
John is talking about habitual practice.
I would go so far as to say that
John ISN’T even talking about brief periods of backsliddenness in a life.
I’ve always liked the statement found in the Westminster Confession.
In the segment on the perseverance of the saints and how the true saints of God will endure to the end, the Westiminster Confession goes on to say:
“Nevertheless they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue therein: whereby they incur God’s displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit; come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts; have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.”
And in the footnotes their statement is defended by citing stories like David’s brief affair with Bathsheba or Peter’s 3 fold denial of Christ.
Those were horrible lapses into sin.
In David’s case it must have lasted at least a few weeks.
But in neither case was it the ongoing practice of their life.
• They were brought to repentance.
• They were brought to sanctification.
And this is what John no doubt has in mind.
While believers may in fact struggle with sin and even lapse into it,
A true believer’s life is not characterized by the practice of sin
But by the practice of righteousness.
We might say it like this:
While the presence of sin may be a reality for believers,
The practice of sin most certainly is not.
TRUE BELIEVERS PRACTICE RIGHTEOUSNESS
And this is how they are distinguished in the world.
And, as we said a moment ago, in a world as sinful as ours true believers ought to stick out like a sore thumb.
Well here in verses 1-10 John is confronting a deception
Which apparently downplayed the importance of righteous living.
And so here John will boldly explain to us:
WHY TRUE CHRISTIANS PRACTICE RIGHTEOUSNESS
As you might expect this will take us several weeks to get through, but what an important passage for us to learn and take to heart in this wicked world.
What we are going to see are
3 reasons why believers practice righteousness.
3 reasons why righteousness is
One of the chief defining characteristics of the true believer.
I’ll even give them to you now and we’ll work through them in the coming weeks.
1) The Hope Producing Love of God
• The effect of the love of God poured into a life produces a hope that in turn
produces righteous living.
• The absence of righteous living signifies the absence of hope
• The absence of hope signifies that one has not yet received the love of God.
2) The Sin Conquering Work of Christ
• John will be very clear when he reminds that Christ came to “take away sin”
and to “destroy the works of the devil”.
• If you are in Christ, then He has done that in your life.
• If that has not occurred in your life, then it is evident that you are not in Christ.
3) The Life Changing Presence of the Spirit
• When a person is “born of God” or born again, that person is made new.
• They are a new creation and the Spirit of God now in them is a Spirit that will
not allow them to dwell in sin.
• They may momentarily grieve Him and fall into sin, but He will not allow them to
stay there.
THOSE 3 REASONS ARE WHY CHRISTIANS LIVE RIGHTEOUS LIVES.
Well this morning, let’s start our journey of examining those truths.
Let’s start with the first point.
#1 THE HOPE PRODUCING LOVE OF GOD
1 John 3:1-3
This is one of the reasons why Christians practice righteousness.
John begins with a statement of awe and wonder.
(1a) “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”
Let’s just stop there and process this for a moment.
The word “See” indicates that John would have us rest here a moment.
John would have us ponder this.
Namely that the “love” that “the Father has bestowed on us” is “GREAT”.
I think the first thing that you must recognize is
The distinction of WHAT KIND OF LOVE John is referring to.
If you’ve never pondered it or studied it, it is a fascinating study
And I think R.C. Sproul discusses it as profoundly and clearly as anyone.
He would tell you that when we discuss the love of God there are 3 types.
GOD’S LOVE OF BENEFICENCE
That God has good-will toward men.
• That God takes no delight in the death of the wicked.
• That God wants good for all humanity.
• It is bound up in commands like “Thou shalt not kill” since all men were “made in the image of God”.
God has a basic fondness and love for humanity in general.
He wants and desires good for all humanity.
GOD’S LOVE OF BENEVOLENCE
This moves beyond desire to action.
• God does good for men.
• “He sends rain on the just and the unjust”
John 3:16 settles here.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 doesn’t say that God saved all men,
But clearly Jesus was sent and made salvation available to all men.
God has good-will and good action toward all men.
But then there is what Sproul called,
GOD’S LOVE OF COMPLACENCY
It is not a smugness, but rather a self-satisfaction.
• Namely that God sets His saving love on those whom it pleases Him to save.
• This is where we put our understanding of election.
• That God chooses to save some according to His own sovereign will.
And this is the love that John is referring to here in verse 1.
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us”
He is NOT REFERRING to beneficent love or even benevolent love.
This is not a statement of amazement that God sends rain on the just and the unjust.
NOR is he referring to God’s love for every human.
This is the love “the Father has bestowed on US”
John is blown away with the love of God
That He would take sinful people and choose to save them.
It is an amazement in adoption.
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God”
John is amazed at the love which God has shown the redeemed.
And LET’S PROCESS that love a little more this morning.
It is worth examining.
It is good that we “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us”
Let’s consider that God’s love for us is A SOVEREIGN LOVE
I’ve told you many times before but the most common errors people make in regard to the gospel do not typically originate in their doctrine of God but actually in regard to their DOCTRINE OF MAN.
If you fail to grasp a biblical view of man
Then inevitably the gospel will be distorted.
Scripture is clear with regard to what man is.
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
We are familiar with that gathering of Psalms
Which Paul quotes in Romans 3 where we are reminded that
“there is none righteous, not even one.”
“there is none who seeks for God”
“there is none who does good, there is not even one.”
“there is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Titus 3:3 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”
The reminder to us is that
We were all spiritually dead and spiritually depraved.
It is not just that sinful man WOULDN’T come to God,
It is also that they COULDN’T come to God.
We know of man’s stubbornness and willful disobedience.
• We know of the depravity of man’s thinking.
• Romans 1 lays this out for us extremely clearly.
But the issue of the gospel has NEVER BEEN ABOUT
Convincing sinful people to want salvation.
Preaching the gospel is not a debate.
You don’t educate people into the kingdom of heaven.
Consider the conversation with Jesus and Nicodemus:
John 3:1-3 “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
• Nicodemus was well aware that Jesus was “a teacher”
• But Jesus straightened him out quickly pointing out that a person must be
“born again”
Nicodemus didn’t need to be educated, he needed to be regenerated.
He had to be born again.
THIS IS THE REALITY OF MAN.
Man is sinful and unwilling to come to Christ,
But even if he were willing, he is absolutely unable to do it.
When the Rich Young Ruler walked away the disciples asked Jesus:
“Then who can be saved?”
Matthew 19:26 “And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
No sooner could a corpse in the Spur cemetery
Decide to quit being dead and to come out of the grave
Than could a sinner decide to quit being spiritually dead
And to grab hold of life.
We think of Lazarus in the tomb.
• Before he could “make the decision” to leave the tomb, he first had to be granted life to even be able to hear the command.
• On his own, Lazarus was powerless to even hear the offer of salvation, let alone choose it.
What all that means is that
The first aspect of love which God had to show to the redeemed
Was a determination to love us even when we were dead.
We didn’t come to God bargaining for forgiveness,
The work of salvation began with the love of God.
It was not us who loved Him, it was Him who loved us.
We were unwilling to come to Him – He determined to save us.
We were dead and unable to come to Him – He determined to give us life.
Ephesians 2:1-5 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”
Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
When you ponder the greatness of God’s love
It must begin with an understanding that
GOD CHOSE TO SET HIS LOVE ON THOSE WHO WERE HIS ENEMIES.
God initiated it; God started it
God chose to love and save those who were dead in their sin.
AND LOVE IS THE ONLY WORD FOR IT.
• The cost was all God’s.
• The benefit was all ours.
He did it all and only because He apparently wanted to.
• He was not strong-armed…
• He was not manipulated…
God, of His own free will determined to love rebellious and spiritually dead humanity and to save them.
IN SHORT, He loved you in spite of the fact that you were not lovely.
We discussed this with the youth briefly on Wednesday night.
In Genesis 11 we get that famous tower of Babel incident
In which God separated one people into many peoples.
Why did God do that?
It is apparent that God separated them into many people
In order that from the many He might choose one.
Who did He choose? The pagan Abram
• Abram was not righteous
• Abram was not good
• But God determined to love him.
The love Abram received from God was most certainly greater
Than the love that any other man on earth had received.
• Who else did God offer a country to?
• Who else did God promise to bless?
It was a “great love” which God bestowed on undeserving Abram.
• It was a sovereign love.
• It was an electing love.
And this is the same great love that all of God’s children enjoy.
But more than just a sovereign love…
We also recognize that God’s love is A SACRIFICIAL LOVE
We understand that God chose to love those who were not lovely,
But we also understand that those He chose to love came with baggage.
• We were all sinful.
• We all deserved judgment.
• And a holy God must satisfy His holiness.
If God was ever going to be able
To bring these sinners that He had chosen near to Himself
Then something must be done about their sin.
And here we find the sacrificial love of God.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
We contemplate the price God paid for our redemption.
We contemplate the price God paid for our adoption.
1 Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
Acts 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
Though God certainly has the sovereign authority
To choose to love whomever He will,
He is still bound by His own righteousness.
I was reading a post this week regarding the thief on the cross and his salvation there before his death.
One commentor explained it like this:
Namely that because God has sovereign authority He can do whatever He wants. And if He wanted to set aside the rules in order to save the thief on the cross, then He had the right to do that.
But that is NOT AT ALL what happened.
For God does have sovereign authority,
But God is still bound by His own holiness.
HIS HOLINESS DEMANDED THAT
The only way sin could be atoned for was with the shedding of blood.
If God was going to reconcile these sinners to Himself
Then a steep price must be paid.
And God’s love was so great, that He paid that price.
He crushed His Son.
He paid our debt.
On the cross Jesus Christ bore the full wrath
For every sin ever committed by those whom God chose to save.
It was costly.
• Consider what it cost to save you.
• Consider what it cost to love you.
We’ve often talked about the story of the Prodigal son and his sinful life.
What should never be overlooked is the ultimate shame
He would have brought upon his father.
The son totally disrespected the father by taking the inheritance
And then humiliated the father by squandering it on sinful living.
He asked the unthinkable by returning to the father and hoping for mercy.
For the father to take that son back was costly.
This is the sacrificial love of God.
Not only did He choose to love you when you were unlovable,
But He paid an enormous price for you to be His.
1 John 4:9-10 “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
And we should also discuss that God’s love is A SUSTAINING LOVE
It is not temporary, it is permanent.
He didn’t just redeem us and then send us away, HE ADOPTED US.
• He calls us His children.
• He has given us His name.
• He has made us partakers of His kingdom.
• We receive a share of the inheritance.
This is more than just a good-hearted Savior who rescues us from peril,
It is a TOTAL, FULL, and PERMANENT salvation.
We think of the parable of the Good Samaritan
• And how not only did the Samaritan save the man,
• But the Samaritan also arranged for lodging and agreed to cover any cost that might be accrued in the future.
It is a love that saves and sustains forever.
It is a love that makes sons out of enemies.
John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
What a statement: “the right to become children of God”
We aren’t born with this right.
This is not some unalienable right like is mentioned in The Declaration of Independence.
John says this right is for those “who were born, not of blood”
You weren’t physically born into the kingdom of God.
It’s genetically passed down from your birth parents.
You also didn’t get in just because you wanted it.
“nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man”
Being a child of God is totally beyond our ability.
We don’t have the right and we don’t have the ability.
(Orphans don’t get to say who will adopt them)
But God did it for us.
• He CHOSE to love us when we were unlovable.
• He SACRIFICED a great deal to redeem us.
• And He ELEVATED us to the status of His children.
WE WERE ADOPTED.
Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
It is God not only loving
But taking His enemies and welcoming them to His table.
And this is the love of God
Which is enjoyed and experienced by all believers.
This far more than just God’s “good will toward men”
This is far more than the benevolence of sending “rain on the just an the unjust”.
It is the love which God has poured upon the redeemed.
And do not fall into the human free-will trap.
You know where you say, “God loves all men like this, it’s just that while others rejected it, we accepted it.”
Why did you accept it?
• Because you were smarter?
• Because you were more noble and wanted out of sin?
• Because you had more ability?
OF COURSE NOT!
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
Your being a recipient of this love had nothing to do with
Your effort or intellect or nobility or power.
The only reason you are a recipient of this great love
Is because God chose to make you a recipient of this love.
To that you have to ask:
WHY DID GOD CHOOSE ME?
There is no logical or rational explanation.
All we can do is marvel with John.
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God;”
It is remarkable.
And then John says: “and such we are.”
It is NOT a hypothetical love, it IS a real genuine love.
As the redeemed of Christ, we ARE God’s children.
We bear His name.
We have His inheritance.
And in this may you marvel for a while.
That even when you were a sinful rebel steeped in spiritual death and depravity, that God chose to set His love on you.
• He made you alive and called you to Himself.
• He sent His Son to die in your stead that He might appease the judgment you deserved.
• He then welcomed you to His table and made you His child and a coheir of His kingdom.
It is a great and marvelous love.
Now, we’ll see in the coming weeks
• How this love produces hope
• And that hope produces righteous living,
But this morning perhaps you can just bask in the fact
That God has chosen to love you.
