Obvious Christianity – Part 3
1 John 3:1-10 (4-8)
May 1, 2022
As you know, we are currently in the middle of our study of 1 John
And the overwhelming theme has been clear.
1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
The epistle of 1 John is an epistle ultimately meant
To give assurance to the Redeemed.
1 JOHN IS A PATERNITY TEST.
It carries us through various tests and points of examination
To help us determine who our Father is.
And the way John does so is really obvious and fascinating.
He reminds us of THE CHARACTER OF GOD
And then asks us to see IF WE SHARE in any of His attributes.
For example:
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;”
• It is a simple of issue of whether or not you bear the resemblance of your Father?
Or consider:
1 John 2:4-6 “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; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
• Do you walk like Him?
• It’s built on the understanding that a son will walk like his father.
Or consider:
1 John 2:8-10 “On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. 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.”
• Does your love for others resemble His love for others?
You get the idea.
After all, how can one say he is someone’s child
When there is absolutely no resemblance whatsoever?
Well that is theme that John continues on here in chapter 3.
As I’ve told you, I believe this section to be sort of the heart of the letter.
It is perhaps the MOST DIRECT AND BOLD PATERNITY TEST
That John delivers in the entire epistle.
We read in 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.”
And that is what we then are discussing: OBVIOUS CHRISTIANITY
• Do you resemble your Father at all?
• Do you resemble Christ at all?
• Or do you look more like that usurper who slipped into the garden?
AND THE ISSUE AT HAND IS PURITY.
Namely that Christians live pure and righteous lives.
In these 10 verses John gives us 3 reasons why Christians live pure lives.
These AREN’T 3 reasons why a Christian “should” live a righteous life.
These ARE 3 reasons why Christians DO live righteous lives.
We’ve already seen the first one.
#1 THE HOPE PRODUCING LOVE OF GOD
1 John 3:1-3
The simple point is that
God’s love is an active love that changes us.
It is a redeeming love that makes us different from the world
And is ultimately making us like Christ.
And that is the Christian hope now.
That one day we will no longer sin, but will be like Christ.
And that hope causes us to purify ourselves.
(3) “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Christians will instinctively begin to strive for the perfect purity
That is one day promised them in Christ.
That is one of the reasons that Christians live righteous lives.
The Hope Producing Love of God
This morning let’s move on to the second reason.
#2 THE SIN CONQUERING WORK OF CHRIST
1 John 3:4-8
We’ll work through it, but it really is AS SIMPLE AS THIS:
What did Jesus come to do? & Has He done that in your life?
• If you tell me Jesus came to make people tall, then has He made you tall?
• If you tell me Jesus came to make people skinny, then has He made you skinny?
• If you tell me Jesus came to make people speak Spanish, then do you speak Spanish?
You get the idea.
If you want to know if you are a Christian
Then ask yourself what Christ came to do
And then ask yourself if He has done that in your life.
Well let’s look at what John has to say here.
And we’re going to bounce around inside these 4 verses a little
Because John’s argument isn’t really laid out in a linear fashion,
But I think you’ll see it fine by the time we’re done.
Let’s break these 4 verses down into 4 points that will help us understand what John is saying a little better.
1) A DEFINITION (4)
“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.”
First John begins here by giving us a better understanding of what sin is.
In a sense he is defining sin.
Now we could do a vocabulary test here.
I can tell you that the word for “sin” John uses is: HAMARTIA
And that word simply means “to miss the mark”
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
So there is a sense in which it just means to fail to reach the goal.
It is a failure to live up to God’s righteous standard.
But here’s the problem with that understanding.
It has been easily softened by humanity; especially our culture.
How many times have you heard someone say:
• “Well we all fall short.”
• “Everybody sins”
• “I’m only human”
What I mean is this: Humanity has sort of softened their understanding of sin simply because we all do it.
We treat it as nonchalantly as a basketball player who misses the free throw
Or the baseball player who strikes out.
We just sort of shrug it off and say, “Oh well, it happens to everybody.”
And with such a mindset sin loses its sting.
With such a mindset sin loses its sinfulness.
We don’t view it as that big of a deal.
Well perhaps John’s definition here will help you better understand sin.
For John says, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.”
John defines sin with a different word there.
“lawlessness” translates ANOMIA
And it refers to “being one without law or a lawless person”.
It speaks of “one who holds the law in contempt or who is rebellious”.
And I hope you understand what John is doing here.
He is taking a nonchalant view of sin
And trying to help you see it through God’s eyes.
Sin may seem insignificant to you
But to God it is the very epitome of rebellion.
It is cosmic treason.
It is insubordination.
Let me take you back to the day God instituted His Law and remind you of the seriousness of the scene.
Exodus 24:3-8 “Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!” Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Here you have Moses reading all the words of the covenant to the people.
• He is reiterating the Law to them.
• And they agreed to obey all of it.
And did you catch what Moses did then?
He took the blood of the peace offering and he sprinkled it on the people.
Imagine that: You just agreed to obey all the commands of God and the first thing that happens is you get sprinkled with blood.
What was that?
It was the stipulations of the agreement.
Hebrews 9:19-22 “For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.” And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
So we read that and ask:
What is the penalty for breaking the Law? (death)
This is serious.
Listen to Jesus:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
What John is doing here is
Making sure you understand that sin is not insignificant.
Sin is utter rebellion against the God of the universe.
• It is not God-like
• It is not of little consequence
• It is a big deal
And as John goes further you will see that
The practice of sin is an indication of lostness.
So first John gives us a definition
2) A DISTINCTION (5b, 8b)
In the middle of these 5 verses John gives us here a contrast.
As a human you are actually a child of one of only two fathers.
You are either a child of God or you are a child of the devil.
There is no 3rd family.
There is no other option.
And so John here identifies the defining characteristics
That distinguish those two families from one another.
And the chief difference between them is that
One of them is righteous and one them is not.
Look at Jesus:
(5b) “in Him there is no sin.”
Then look at the Devil
(8b) “for the devil has sinned from the beginning.”
So John has just defined sin for us and then he points out that
Jesus never did it and the devil has always done it.
The distinction between the two couldn’t be clearer.
Their defining characteristics are polar opposites.
“in [Jesus] there is no sin.”
Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”
John 8:29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
Matthew 3:17 “and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
In fact, we just celebrated Easter which is the forensic proof that Jesus was without sin.
• He never sinned, not once.
• He never said a sinful word…
• He never thought a sinful thought…
• He never had a sinful motive…
• He never did a sinful deed…
Jesus never sinned; AT ALL; EVER
The same most certainly cannot be said about the devil.
“the devil has sinned from the beginning.”
We barely make it 3 chapters into the Bible
Before the devil shows up with all his lies and deceptions.
Jesus called him “the father of lies”
And “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44)
We won’t go into all of it this morning,
But Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 both speak of this fallen angel who had such jealousy of God’s glory that he rebelled and swept 1/3 of the angels of heaven away with him.
Satan is anything but compliant.
Oh, he is forced to submit to whatever God says,
But rebellion and lawlessness are in his heart.
He is a liar and a thief and rebel and usurper
And a murderer and a slanderer and an adversary.
The simple and obvious point that we gain here is that
Jesus and the devil are on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Would you agree with that?
John 14:30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;
Jesus is the very epitome of righteousness
And the devil is the very epitome of lawlessness.
3) A DECEPTION (6-8a)
“No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil;”
Here we are confronted again with the deception of the day.
Apparently there were some who practiced sin quite regularly
And yet still claimed to be children of God.
AND JOHN BALKS AT THAT.
That’s a lie!
If you see a person who walks like the devil, talks like the devil, and acts like the devil, it shouldn’t be too hard to tell who their daddy is.
If you see a person who walks like Jesus, talks like Jesus, and acts like Jesus, then that should be obvious as well.
Does that make sense?
Jesus said the same thing, only with a bit of a different analogy.
Matthew 7:16-20 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
It’s the same point here.
You’ve probably heard the analogy before, “He’s a chip off the old block”
Or “The apple didn’t fall very far from the tree.”
Do you want to know who your daddy is?
Then tell me who you walk like.
That’s the point.
• We first talk about sin,
• And then we talk about how Jesus never sinned and the devil always does
• And then we ask which one you act like.
But to come out and say, “I’m a Christian” while living like the devil
IS A TERRIBLE DECEPTION.
We talked about it last week, but I’ll mention it again.
This concept of the supposed “Carnal Christian” is a faulty concept.
John couldn’t be clearer:
“No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.”
The tense of that verb “sins” does indicate the ongoing practice of sin,
Not a momentary stumble.
BUT THE POINT IS CLEAR.
And if that wasn’t clear enough, he’ll say it again:
“the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”
And if that still doesn’t clear it up:
“the one who practices sin is of the devil;”
Now that helps us identify whether a person is a Christian or not,
But we want to know WHY Christians live righteous lives.
Someone might say:
“OK preacher, maybe the devil is my biological father, but I’ve been adopted into the kingdom. I’m not a genetic child of Jesus; I’m an adopted child. That’s why I look like the devil even though I’m a child of Jesus.”
LET ME SHOW YOU WHY THAT DOESN’T WASH.
It’s the 4th point here.
4) A DECLARATION (5a, 6c)
In these 5 verses John shows you TWO THINGS JESUS CAME TO DO.
In fact John actually twice uses the word “appeared”
• It is the mission of Jesus.
• It is why He came.
(5a) “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins;”
(8c) “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”
Those are two distinct statements
But they are in effect saying the same thing.
And they answer for us the question why Christians live righteous lives.
It is because when Jesus adopts someone one,
He also cleanses them.
• IT IS TRUE that God loved us when we were sinners.
• IT IS TRUE that Christ died for us while we were sinners.
• BUT IT IS ALSO TRUE that when Christ adopted us He cleansed us.
And in fact, He keeps on cleansing us.
Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
Or remember that famous scene in the upper room
When Jesus is washing the disciple’s feet.
Remember when He comes to Peter?
John 13:6-8 “So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
THAT’S A STRONG STATEMENT.
If you don’t let me purify you, then you can’t stay with Me.
Remember the parable of the wedding banquet?
Remember that guy who tried to enter without wedding clothes? (righteousness)
Matthew 22:11-13 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Consider what Jesus taught about church discipline.
Matthew 18:15-17 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
Are you getting this?
It is true that Jesus was and is a friend of sinners.
It is true that Jesus loved the unlovely.
But Jesus doesn’t let any of them stay in their sin.
Before He redeemed the woman at the well, did He not first confront the sin in her life?
Do you remember the cripple he healed at the Bethesda pool?
Do you remember His command to that man?
John 5:13-14 “But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
What did He tell that woman caught in adultery?
John 8:10-11 “Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
So this notion that you can be an adopted sinner
Who is a Christian that still looks like the devil IS A FARCE.
Everyone Jesus adopts He cleans.
• He came “to take away sins”
• He came “to destroy the works of the devil”
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
And think for a moment HOW HE DID THIS.
“to take away sins” gives us such a mental picture. (Day of Atonement)
• How that one goat was sacrificed on God’s altar.
• How that scapegoat what was sent away to carry away the sin of God’s people.
And we remember that our Lord was also crucified outside of the city.
How he was buried in the tomb.
OUR SIN WAS IMPUTED TO HIM AND HE CARRIED IT AWAY.
We think about how He destroyed the works of the devil.
Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
Jesus destroyed the devil’s power by disarming him.
The entire power of the devil has been the threat of death,
But Jesus conquered death and Satan lost his power.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
SO THINK ABOUT THIS.
• We have Jesus, who came to this earth and lived totally without sin.
• He then took our sin upon Himself and carried it away.
• He did so by carrying it to the cross where He would die.
• And He would rise from the dead to crush Satan’s power.
That is a pretty big mission IN ORDER TO SET YOU FREE from sin.
Now the question is this:
Do you suppose that
• Jesus would come to this earth
• And resist all that temptation
• And live a holy life
• And take our sin upon Himself
• And suffer our reproach and shame
• And die upon a cross
• And be stuck in a tomb
• And rise from the dead
JUST TO LEAVE HIS CHILDREN IN THEIR SIN?
And the answer is a resounding NO!
Certainly God loved us when we were sinners.
Certainly Christ died for us when we were sinners.
BUT HE ALSO SET US FREE FROM OUR SIN
SO THAT WE MIGHT BE RIGHTEOUS.
Do you remember PAUL’S TORTUROUS LAMENT in Romans 7?
Where he moaned and groaned because despite his efforts he continues to do the very thing he hates?
Romans 7:19 “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.”
Remember his wail?
Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
You want to see his answer:
Romans 7:25-8:4 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Do you see it?
JESUS CHRIST SET HIM FREE!
• Jesus “appeared in order to take away sins”
• Jesus “appeared…to destroy the works of the devil”
• Paul said “He condemned sin in the flesh”
This is why Christians live righteous lives.
Because Jesus Christ set us free from the Law of sin and of death.
It is also why non-believers CAN’T live righteous lives.
Apart from Jesus, they have not been set free and they are slaves.
We’re running out of time, but go back and read Romans 6.
There you have that infamous question about believers being ok with living in sin simply because they are under grace.
And Paul emphatically answers, “May it never be!”
WHY?
Romans 6:5-6 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”
WE HAVE BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN
Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Romans 6:17-18 “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
This is why Christians live righteous lives!
• It is NOT why they should, it IS why they do.
• We are now “slaves of righteousness”
The work of Christ in our lives
Has produced a slavery to righteous living.
And the only question left to ask this morning is this:
DID CHRIST DO THAT FOR YOU?
• If He has then you will walk in righteousness – YOU HAVE ASSURANCE
• If He has not, then you will walk in sin – YOU NEED CHRIST
WHO IS YOUR FATHER?
This is why we say that Christians live righteous lives because of the sin-conquering work of Christ.
We celebrate the fact that He came and conquered my sin.
We celebrate the fact that He set us free.
And that is a celebration we are going to have this morning.
We are going to partake of the Lord’s Supper.
We do this to remember the sin-conquering work of Christ.
That’s why Paul said:
1 Corinthians 5:8 “Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
When you take this Lord’s supper, do it in righteousness.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”
What a great time of worship and self-examination this table is.
And listen to that warning.
• This table is for the redeemed.
• It is for those who yielded their lives to Christ.
• It is NOT for those who would partake because it’s trendy or cool.
• It is NOT for those who would prefer to live in sin and partake anyway.
• Paul said when you do that you “shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord”.
• Paul even said that’s why people in the Corinthian church were dying.
Here we come to celebrate the work of Christ on our behalf
And we remember that His work is a sin purifying work.
If He is doing that in your life then come to this table and celebrate.
If He is not, do not make a mockery of it by partaking.
So now we come to our time of preparation for each of us to examine ourselves and then to partake in the table of the Lord.
