June 11, 2023
Morning Service

In the first three verses of chapter 3, John helped as Jesus followers to realize our true identity and what that means for us.  I am a child of God.  I am loved.  I am valued.  I have been uniquely created with a purpose in mind.  I will be like Him.  I have been promised to one day see Him as He is.  This hope inside of me now causes me to make changes in my life to live a life of purity because He is pure (verse 3).  It is this change, or purification (becoming doers of the Word not hearers only), that John speaks on today.  He begins with sin in our lives and our view of that sin.  This can be a difficult scripture to understand, but let’s rightly divide it to fully understand what God is telling us here.

1Jn 3:4-6 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.  (5)  And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.  (6)  Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins have neither seen Him nor known Him.

            Many people sin out of ignorance, being unaware of the things they are doing are contrary to God’s Word.  He is not speaking to that type of sin here.  John defines sin for us as “lawlessness;” doing something that violates a known law, rule or principle.  This is a conscious, intentional decision to do things that we know are contrary to the will of God.  This creates a consistent lifestyle of “practicing sin” that in reality shows a contempt for God and His commands.  The Word clearly speaks against sinful actions, but we somehow feel we are able to do as we like in whatever the case may be.  We must understand a truth about God.  God is Holy, Just and Good and in Him there is no sin (verse 5).  We are called to imitate Him and strive to remove all sin from our lives (aim for perfection).  This scripture does not tell us that we won’t sin as a Jesus follower, but it tells us we will not continually live in a sinful lifestyle; practicing sin.  As a true faithful follower of Jesus we work to remove that sin from our lives.  To “abide in Him” means we cannot “abide in sin.”  John here tells us that if we do live such a lifestyle then we “have neither seen Him nor known Him.”  We are the only ones deceived in this process. John continues to explain this as we continue.

 

1Jn 3:7-10 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.  (8)  He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.  

            We display our true character by what we do; revealing who we are following and who controls our heart.  If we practice righteousness, living the right way according to God (not sinless but trying to be), then we show that we are abiding in Christ.  If we practice a sinful lifestyle (knowingly violating God’s commands), then we are allowing the devil to deceive us, rule our heart and control us.  John is speaking to the issue of who owns our heart.  Jesus came to this world specifically to destroy the works of the devil and to free us from sin’s bondage.  He is our only way out of a life that is unpleasing to God.  It all boils down to whether we are living according to the Spirit or according to the flesh.  Paul told this to the Roman church:

 

Rom 8:4-5  that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  (5)  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

            Who owns and controls your heart and mind?   What thoughts and desires fill your soul?  If our thoughts are of the flesh and this sinful world, then it is the devil that is king of our heart.  If our thoughts are of God and His righteousness, then it is the Spirit that rules.  Our actions do not justify us, but prove that we belong to Him or not.  John now just lays it on the table for us about our perspective of sin.

 

 

 

 

 

1Jn 3:9-10  Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.  (10)  In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

            This verse alone can lead Christians down the same dark path of deception that many in the early church ventured down.  That deception is that once we have accepted Christ as our Savior we are free to live any way we please; not avoiding sin but embracing it.  This is not true.  Again from Romans, Paul answers this exact question.

 

Rom 6:1-7 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  (2)  Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?  (3)  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  (4)  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (5)  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, (6) knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  (7)  For he who has died has been freed from sin.

            In accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior and entering into the waters of baptism, we have died to our old sinful nature.  “The old man was crucified with Him” as we were “buried with Him through baptism into death.”  We were then raised from our spiritual grave of water to “walk in the newness of life.”  Our “body of sin has been done away with, and we are no longer slaves to sin.”   Paul explained to the Corinthians in his second letter like this:

 

 2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

What does that mean for me?  It means a chance to start over; to spiritually be born again.  It means I have been changed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and I no longer walk the same old path of sin, but seek something new.  My old selfish ways have died in the waters of baptism and I no longer walk in them.  It doesn’t mean I will never sin, but when I do I don’t accept that action to define me or control me.  I must honestly and humbly confront my sin, admit it, own it and confess it seeking God’s promised forgiveness and cleansing.  Here is how that process works that we covered in chapter 1.

 

1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This is the simple process that God has set in place for us to remove sin from our lives.   By doing this by faith I believe I am forgiven and cleansed and I can move forward in good conscience. It is in this way that I do not allow myself to abide in my sin or be enslaved by it; I am freed from it.  I am free to be who I was created to be.  A loved child of God.

 

Heavenly Father open our eyes to any unconfessed sin in our lives that is controlling us.  Help us to put those sins out of our lives and to walk freely in the newness of life you created for us.