[0:00] morning little love. Got a little southern over there. Got a little western over there.
[0:11] That's all right. Take out your Bibles with me and turn to 1 John chapter 3. Oh, we're already in chapter 3. It just seems fast. They're slow down, huh? Chapter 3, we're going to look at this morning verses 4 through 10. It is connected to the previous verses.
[0:41] Actually, the unit of thought is from 228 to 310. We looked at the first part last week that focused more future, that talked about when he comes, when he appears, how that drives us, how that purifies us. And this week, then, we focus on how he has appeared, his past appearing, and the power that enables believers to both conquer sin and defeat the devil.
[1:15] So, this is, I think, really, really outstanding stuff. I'm talking about John, not my sermon. So, hopefully, we can communicate some of what John has done. So, if you're able, please stand as I read from 1 John 3, beginning of verse 4. 1 John 3, verse 4.
[1:39] 1 John 3, verse 5.
[2:09] 1 John 3, verse 5.
[2:39] 1 John 3, verse 5.
[3:09] 1 John 3, verse 5. 1 John 3, verse 6. righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
[3:21] So it reads, let us pray that we might grasp. Father, we thank you for John and his word. We recognize, I recognize that he writes very, very carefully, very deliberately.
[3:36] And so, Father, help us to grasp his train of thought, help us to see the clarity with which he writes, help us to understand the conclusions that he comes to, which sound to us quite striking.
[3:55] And so, Father, show us, Lord, through Christ, by your spirit, the truth of the text. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated.
[4:06] How about we start with a little bit of Hamlet? That should help.
[4:24] To be or not to be? That is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
[4:36] Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing in them. To die, to sleep, no more.
[4:47] And by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
[5:00] To die, to sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream. Aye, there's the rub. For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come.
[5:12] When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause. There's the respect that makes calamity of so long life.
[5:23] For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contempt, the pangs of disprised love, the law's delay, the insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes.
[5:39] When he himself might his quietest make with a bare dagger. Who would burdens bear to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose born no traveler returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of.
[6:16] Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all. And thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied over with the pale cast of thought.
[6:30] In enterprises of great pith and moment, with this regard, their currents turn awry and lose the name of action. Did you follow that?
[6:42] Yeah. I had to read it several, several times. This is Hamlet. The play Hamlet. Hamlet, the character speaking of his struggle with life, his debating within himself to end his life, to end the pain and the suffering and the injustices of life.
[7:02] When it comes down to it, as he narrates and as he debates through this, he considers, But if I take my life, there is the dread of something after life.
[7:16] And this gives pause. This makes cowards of us. So let me rewrite this.
[7:29] Okay? I'm a playwright. My name's William too, like Shakespeare. I just want to change a couple of words and focus this a little bit differently because while he is struggling with a real struggle, life and death, and dealing with it, right?
[7:48] So we have another struggle as a Christian in our life. Same issues of life and death. To sin or not to sin.
[8:00] That is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous deception, or to take arms against a sea of temptations, and by opposing in them.
[8:18] To die to sin. To conquer sin. And by conquering to say we end the heartache in a thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.
[8:32] Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die to sin. To conquer? Conquer perhaps. To dream?
[8:45] Ah, there's the rub. For in that death to sin, what dreams may come. Hope.
[8:58] Peace. Joy. Assurance. Confidence when he appears. Follow that?
[9:12] At least generally? I don't know why that came to my mind. I'm not a Shakespeare guy. I've never read Hamlet. But as I was thinking about this text, to sin or not to sin, I thought, that sounds kind of fun.
[9:29] Sin or not to, what's that sound like? So let me ask you, Christian, because this is what John is going to talk about.
[9:41] To sin or not to sin. Whose child are we? Right? Who's your father? Who are you like? Whom do you emulate?
[9:56] So Christian, how do you think of yourself? Do you think of yourself primarily as a sinner who has been saved? That's very common. That's very natural. We are sinners.
[10:07] We say that a lot. Or would you say, as Paul says, writing to the Corinthians, writing to the Thessalonians, writing to the Colossians, writing to the Philippians, writing to every church he writes to, he writes, to the saints who are at Colossae.
[10:26] To the saints who are at Corinth? Really? Do you know those people? Saints? Huh?
[10:36] That's how he thinks of them, because that's what they are. Do you think of yourself as a sinner or as a saint who fights sin? Saint does not mean sinless.
[10:50] It means one who has been made a saint because of the cross. So how you view yourself matters. So if you think of yourself as a sinner first, you're already half defeated.
[11:07] You're already seeing yourself from a weak point of view, and that's not of faith. That's natural. It's not of faith. I don't want to call myself a saint.
[11:21] That's, well, you don't have to call yourself that. I need you to think of yourself with that. See, if you believe that you're a saint, if you believe what Scripture says, if you believe that you're a saint, you start from a godly perspective that can conquer sin.
[11:37] It's who you are. It's identity issue. Who am I? Really? This is a faith identity issue.
[11:50] Do you really believe you are a child of God, or are you still kind of a child of the devil? Well, I do some devilly things.
[12:05] Yes, but are you a child of God? A child of God is empowered to conquer sin and defeat the devil.
[12:17] You really are, because of who you are. So John here in chapter 3 is challenging the true Christian to trust, to believe who he really is.
[12:29] He's saying that you are either a child of God or you're a child of the devil. Period. John, once again, black and white. Walk in light, walk in darkness. Practice sin, practice righteousness.
[12:41] You either love your brother or hate your brother. You can't serve two masters. So, we saw last time in chapter 2, 28 to 3, he talked about the appearing of Christ in the future.
[12:57] He said, when he appears, right? He gave two assurances there in 2, 28, 29. He said, those who are born of God will have confidence at Jesus' return.
[13:09] Those who are born of God, who are practicing righteousness because they're born of God, practicing, by the way, not perfecting, practicing, working at it, training, retraining ourselves, practicing righteousness, have confidence at Jesus' return.
[13:25] Why? Because we're abiding in Jesus in order to practice that righteousness. And the second assurance he gives at the beginning of chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, he says, the hope of seeing and being like Christ purifies our impure hearts.
[13:43] Both of those are in relation to his future coming. When he comes, will I have confidence or shame? When he comes, by his coming, that thought of that coming, the hope of that coming, actually has a powerful impact on me.
[14:00] It purifies me. The one hoping in Christ purifies himself.
[14:13] We're involved in that. So, two powerful things there. Now, and this is where I think John is so intentional. He's thought this through. He talks about the two future, two times about the future appearing.
[14:27] Now he's going to talk about two results or impacts of his past coming. When he, when he appears, now he's talking about when he did appear.
[14:42] When he already appeared, he accomplished two things. And when he, because he did appear, we have power to conquer sin and the devil.
[14:57] I want you to think of the cross a little bigger than maybe you have before. We think of the cross as forgiveness, cancellation of sin, right? And such it is.
[15:09] Jesus accomplished more than that. it's not just a legal transaction. It's a transforming death.
[15:23] Because his death becomes our death. His life becomes our life. So, the cross, in a nutshell, the cross of Christ empowers believers to conquer sin and the devil.
[15:39] Two reasons. One, verses four to six, he appeared to remove sin. Right? Verse five, he appeared to take away sins.
[15:52] Okay? And then, again, in verse eight, the end of verse eight, the son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. So, he appeared for two reasons.
[16:04] To take away sin, remove sin, which has an impact on us. And secondly, to destroy the works of the devil. So, two reasons we're empowered to conquer.
[16:16] First one, we conquer sin because Christ appeared to remove its power. We conquer sin because Christ appeared to remove the power of sin.
[16:27] When he removes sin, he removes its power on us. it's not just a ledger book where it's crossed out. It has a practical impact on our life.
[16:40] If sin is removed, it makes a difference in how the born-again person lives. So, let me show you this. Verse four shows us the problem. Sin's sinfulness.
[16:52] The first is going to describe and or define sin. Everyone who makes a practice of sin also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. So, there's our definition. Sin is lawlessness.
[17:04] Now, I want you to understand the word that he uses for sin. We know there's different words in the Bible for sin, different Greek words, different Hebrew words for sin. Both come into three different levels.
[17:17] So, there's sin at the basic sense, which means to miss the mark, right? I'm not perfect. I miss the mark. That's this word. Then there's the word transgress or trespass, where we cross over a line, right?
[17:31] That's clearly intentional, rebellious sin to cross the line. I trespass. And then there's that word iniquity, right? Which means, not just do I trespass, but I twisted at, I perverted.
[17:43] I, you know, that's what David did. Right? And then just cross the line. Man, he just obliterated it, right? So, here he uses the lowest word to miss the mark, he says, is lawlessness.
[18:03] That sounds harsh. No, it's just, I just missed it. I just, you know, trying, I'm doing my best. Nope. Those who continue to miss the mark, those who are in the habit of missing the mark, those who practice missing the mark, who are staying at that level, I don't care if I miss the mark, I just miss the mark.
[18:27] It's too hard for me. I don't want to do it. I don't even try. I'm not practicing it making the mark, I'm practicing missing it.
[18:40] You're lawless. Which means you are opposed to law, you disregard the law, you are contemptuous of the law, you reject boundaries, you reject those boundaries, those don't apply to me.
[18:55] My boundaries over here. I don't do that. That's not my bad. God doesn't mean that, he means this. Because I can do that one.
[19:09] You know, I don't kill anyone. Well, Jesus said the boundaries over here. Hating them. Oh, no, no, I just do the, I do the other one. I just don't kill anyone.
[19:20] I don't commit adultery, yeah, but do you lust? Well, the old command is adultery. Yeah, but Jesus said, no, no, it's, Jesus makes it in, you know, removes the boundaries, kind of, kind of makes it unsafe for all of us.
[19:38] You're lawless. Yeah, I don't do that. I, you know, I just do this. That's okay, right? You're lawless. Second Thessalonians 2 talks about the man of lawlessness, the one who comes at the end of time, the one who ushers in the very end.
[19:55] In Revelation, he's called the Antichrist. In John here, he's already mentioned the Antichrist coming. Paul called him the man of lawlessness, the man who opposes God, the one who rounds up all the rebels to face off against God, which Revelation describes as Armageddon, right?
[20:16] The gathering for the last battle. The man of lawlessness. So if you are practicing sin, practicing failure, failure, you're lawless.
[20:30] You're opposed to God. You're not fighting it. You're opposed to it. You move the line. Okay? So that's how he defines it. What's the answer to this?
[20:41] So if that's where we are, and that's where we all are, actually, right? We all fall short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. sin. So that's where, so what's, so isn't this the gospel?
[20:55] There's the sin, there's the problem. What's the solution? There's God who is righteous, there's man who is unrighteous. So God, man, what's the next part of the gospel?
[21:07] God, man, trying hard, that's it, right? No, what's, four words of the gospel. God, man, Christ, solution, remedy, God, man, problem, God, man, okay, don't, don't, solution, cross, man, and then the last word of the gospel, God, man, Christ, response, faith, transformation.
[21:41] We have that right here. Verse four is the problem. Here's the man, here's the sin. Verse five is the remedy, the Christ. Verse six is the transformation, the faith, the response, right?
[21:56] So what's the remedy? It's sin being removed. Verse five, you know that he, who's he talking about? He, well, the one who's going to appear again, the one who's already appeared, and the one who's going to appear again, that's Jesus Christ, the son of God.
[22:12] You know, when he appeared, when Jesus appeared, he appeared to take away sins. So what's that mean? It's why he came to take away sin.
[22:23] He's removing it. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. From those Romans.
[22:35] No, he will save his people from their sins. That's the problem. not our environment, inside.
[22:46] He will save their people. So he's going to take away sin. And actually, what doesn't translate, but what sticks out to me, is he appeared to take away the sin.
[23:03] The sin. A particular kind of sin. which was back in verse 4, too, practice of sinning, practicing the sin. The sin is this kind of law.
[23:16] So he's talking about a particular kind of sin. Take away the sin. What sin? The ignoring of God, the rebelling against God, the dismissing of God, the disregard of God, all of that in our sin.
[23:29] We each, what, wander in our, all of us are like sheep who go astray, right? We've all gone astray. We've all chosen our own way, right?
[23:40] Why do we go astray? Not because, because we choose our own way, Isaiah says. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each has gone, what? His own way.
[23:54] For sin, Eve, what'd she choose? I did it my way. Beautiful. I was just like Frank. Frank who?
[24:12] Right? She's choosing her own way. She was deceived in it, but she chooses her own way. Adam, eyes wide open. Yeah, I'm going that way too.
[24:26] Don't need to deceive me, I want to do my own thing. Every sin in its nature is that. Choosing my own way. So Jesus says to follow me means what? When it follows me does what?
[24:40] Denies himself, takes up his cross and follows me. That's the opposite of our culture. No, choose yourself. Lift up yourself. Make it all about you.
[24:52] Jesus says, no, deny yourself. No, yourself is the problem. You don't need to love yourself more. You don't need to accept yourself more. You need to deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me.
[25:03] That's the answer. Doesn't make sense. That's the answer. Period. Period. But, but, but, it's not what I heard.
[25:17] That's not what the world tells me. Of course, it's not what the world tells you. world is bought into the lie of the evil one. And we have two.
[25:28] So we need to not be deceived by that. So he takes it away. He removes it. He bears it. This take away also kind of can mean carry away, to bear it away.
[25:41] He bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin, live to righteousness. And why can he do this? Why can he bear our sin? Why can't I bear my sin?
[25:52] Well, if I bear my sin, I'm dead. Right? I'm dead. That's why everyone who has seen the appearance of God, Isaiah, I'm a dead man.
[26:05] Isaiah sees God, I'm a dead man. John, Revelation 1 sees Jesus in his glory, dead man. Right? How can I see God and live?
[26:21] How can he do it? Look at the end of verse five. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him, there is no sin. That's how we can do it.
[26:33] I can't bear away sin because I got my own sin. He can bear away sin because he is holy. He has no sin. He can be my lamb.
[26:45] So, in the Old Testament, they chose lambs for their sacrifices, right? The lamb had to be what? Perfect. Spotless, without a blemish.
[26:57] It's got to be a perfect sacrifice. Right? No lameness, no spots, no deficiencies. It's got to be a holy, whole lamb.
[27:12] Well, we need a lamb too. We need a lamb of the world to take away, a lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. John the Baptist said, there's Jesus, he's that lamb. He will take away the sins of the world.
[27:25] I mean, he's spotless and Hebrews, Isaiah said, if you look upon him, what do you see? He doesn't have any majesty.
[27:37] He's marred. God in fact, after they beat him up before the cross, he was quite blemished. Right?
[27:48] So it wasn't external, but internally he was pure. Internally he had not sinned. He was in every way tempted like we yet without sin. He conquered sin every time.
[28:01] so he could be that perfect holy substitute. He could be the holy one. He could be the lamb who takes our sin upon himself, carries them through the cross, dies with them.
[28:17] Our sins die in Christ. They are no more. They are paid.
[28:30] Okay? What's the impact of that? Well, look at verse 6. So, he sticks this verse, he talks about sin, the definition of sin is lawlessness. Verse 5, he talks about here's the remedy, he appeared to take away sins.
[28:43] Verse 6, what's the impact of that? Therefore, no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
[28:55] No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. Sin has been conquered. That's the difference for the believer. The one abiding in him is not sinning. That's the literal of this text, verse 6.
[29:08] The one abiding in him is not sinning. sinning. If I am abiding in Christ, can I sin? If I'm actively abiding in Christ, remember abiding, remember the, right, if I'm attached to him, if I'm engaged, if my faith is active, if I'm relying on him, if I'm reaching out to him, I'm praying, am I sinning when I do that?
[29:32] No. The one abiding in him is not sinning. I'm abiding in him. Does that mean I'm perfect? Absolutely not. But I'm abiding in him.
[29:43] And I'm not sinning. Get it? And if I make a practice of abiding in him, I don't practice sin. See? Does that make sense?
[29:56] See, he's connecting the dots. In other words, we're conquering sin.
[30:07] When I'm abiding in him, I'm conquering sin. I'm not sinning by relying in him, and when I'm relying in him, I'm overcoming temptation and deception and my weakness.
[30:26] I don't abide in him because I just, oh, I believe in Jesus and I trusted him. Yeah. That's not abiding. Abiding is continual. Abiding is relying, trusting, reaching, a relationship, right?
[30:49] And on the other hand, he says, verse 6, no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. You either abide in him or you don't abide in him.
[31:01] You either keep on sinning or you don't keep on sinning. sinning. No one who keeps on sinning, no one who just perpetually keeps on sinning, doesn't fight it, doesn't righteousness, just keeps on sinning.
[31:16] His faith is, if he has faith at all, his faith is totally passive. I just do what's natural, which will be to keep on sinning.
[31:27] the one who keeps on sinning has no power to resist the one who keeps on sinning has no power to resist because he has not seen him or known him now what does he mean seen him how do you see him Jesus lived 2000 years ago how do I see him well obviously not visibly but I see I recognize who he really is who has John told us in this letter who has he told us he is he is the one from the beginning remember how he started this letter he's the one from the beginning he's the one who is the life he is the one that we saw we touched we heard we handled we're witnesses that he was real he wasn't some figment he wasn't some mirage he was a living human being who in who was the life changing eternal truth and according to these verses he's the one who takes away sin and he's the one who destroys the work of the devil he's the son of God he says in verse 8 who is this Jesus he's the son of God nothing less so the one who keeps on sinning doesn't see that doesn't recognize that doesn't accept that disregards that the one who keeps on sinning not only doesn't see him but doesn't know him remember those words
[33:09] Lord Lord we did all these things I never knew you I never had any relationship with you you never abided in me you just did that on your own John is really cut and dry isn't he but for a Christian see the Christian conquers sin because he has seen who he is and he knows him and he abides in him and that's how he conquers sin that's how he doesn't keep practicing sin he still sins but he doesn't make a practice of it in fact he's working at practicing intentionally learning how to do this unnatural thing to deny myself that's not natural to take a cross why in the world would I want to take up a cross right that's practicing righteousness and the only reason I can do that is because I'm abiding in him and the next point he's going to get to is because I've been radically changed
[34:28] I'm born again I'm a different person that's why so let me read through Romans 6 the first 14 verses or so first because I think this is what he's getting at so John says it one way he says we practice sin or we practice righteousness right and John says it's about abiding in him abiding in him is how we overcome sin abiding in him is our power to conquer sin Paul comes at it from a different perspective Paul the brainiac Paul the logician the rational guy right listen to this reasoning Romans 6 I'm sure you've read it before I remember reading through this when I was in college and man I would just I would pour through it I got coffee stains all over my Bible from trying to get it right it's like I want to conquer sin what's he getting at I could see there's an answer in there but I couldn't couldn't get it so here's what Paul says what shall we say then he's just talked about grace grace grace grace grace grace grace forgives us grace conquers right now he says so what shall we say are we to continue in sin that grace may abound
[35:44] I mean we're always going to be forgiven by God forgives me if I keep sinning God's going to forgive me right that's what he's talking about shall we continue in sin that grace might abound I mean let's glorify grace Paul says by no means no you misunderstand how can we who died to sin still live in it how can we do that do you not know see it's about something I know do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death you know that something something very deep happened there we were buried therefore we're actually buried with him by baptism talking about the spirit baptism not about a water baptism by baptism into death when we're converted in other words there is a spiritual baptism baptism of the spirit that happens that changes us we're buried with him into death why in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father we too might walk in newness of life we too might have a new resurrected life be a different person for if we have been united with him in a death like his see he's talking about something spiritual a death like his we shall certainly be with him we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his he died
[37:19] I died with him he raised I will be raised with him and I already am raised with him in a certain way we know here we go watch now this is something we know by faith we know by truth we know by the cross we know that our old self was crucified with him you know that you know that when you're converted that your old self was crucified your old man is dead seems kind of alive to me understand follow his logic we know that our old self was crucified with him why in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin no longer enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin now if we've died with Christ we believe we'll also live with him for the death he died he died to sin you know what that means he died to sin why because when he died he carried our sins with him to the grave he died to sin so did we
[38:38] I remember that oh it happened when you're born again it happened when you embrace Christ it happened when you recognize and saw who he is it's still happening because you know I need that gospel every day because I keep believing the old stuff I keep thinking I'm enslaved I can't overcome this sin it's just too powerful what do I believe who am I he died to sin but the life he lives he lives to God so here's the difference that it makes here's the application so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God you must you must have this faith recognition you must have this faith identity I am dead to sin alive to God this is where I'm sitting in the coffee room and I'm in college and just going how do I do that okay just believe
[39:44] I believe right kind of showing my lack of wisdom but I wanted it well here's how you must consider yourselves dead to sin alive to Jesus therefore how do I do that let sin let not sin therefore rain huh don't let it rain huh don't let it rain it doesn't have the power to rain you don't have the power don't let it rain where in your mortal body to make you obey its passions say just say no but but but but actually real why why can I do that for sin will have no dominion over you why since you are not under law but under grace under law
[41:03] I can't do that under grace I can do that do you see his logic if you're united with Christ by the spirit baptism by your being born again then you have died with him that means you're dead to sin you are free from sin your heart has been cleansed your life has been changed you have new desires and a new heart you you are free from sin free how free from its power you're not free from its presence!
[41:36] sin whether you will do that or not you have a moment of choice every time I'm not talking about those ones that sneak up on you and oops I really didn't intend to do that that happens I talk about the ones where you can see the temptation and you got choice am I going to let that entice me am I going to stew!
[42:28] on that! am going to carry that grudge what am I going to do it! That's when I can fight!
[42:45] I'm not enslaved to it I don't have to do it I have power in Christ to not let it rain because he's removed the power of sin it's an identity issue consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God it's an idea who am I I'm just a sinner I'm going to sin no I'm a saint I've been changed I'm a child of God now that starts long before the temptation is hot okay when the temptation is hot I don't go through this reasoning process when the temptation is right there right and I'm about to be snared by what am it is written it is written it is written that's what I'm going to do because this moment it's right there right now hold on temptation I've got to think this right and it ain't gonna work do that before do that every day renew my mind every day in the moment of temptation
[43:51] Peter gets that little tap on his shoulder right oh you're you're wait a minute I've got to remember who I am he's got to just say yes I am who am I we can we conquer sin because Christ appeared to remove its power there's a second reason we conquer now we conquer the devil and we are able to resist the devil we're able to conquer and defeat the devil why who am I why can I conquer the devil why can I resist this powerful being because Christ has appeared to disarm his power Christ has destroyed his works he has ruined his works he has remember what Genesis 3 15 said the seed of the woman right in the seed of the serpent the seed of the serpent will bruise the heel of the woman's seed right the woman's descendant but the woman's descendant ain't gonna just bruise none he's gonna do what crush the head of the dragon we get a little shaking going on he's just like wake up somebody you're right that's the language he uses crush his head right he's gonna disarm the old serpent gonna be thrown down right so okay so again he starts in verse seven with this distinction of identity he's distinguishing god's child and the devil's child so verse seven who are you little children let no one deceive you whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous right don't be deceived it's simple if you practice righteous you're the righteous person just like he's the righteous person wow
[46:08] I'm as righteous as Jesus no you're like him in that you're practicing right you're becoming like him you're getting more like him verse eight on the other hand whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil wow ow that went south fast didn't it you're of the devil I don't think so I don't I don't care about devil I don't worship the devil I don't do what the devil says how do you know well does he have a book or something I don't read his book or anything books all over society I don't believe in the devil you know that's that's a lie what you practice is who you are remember practice this is an interesting word whoever practices righteousness or practices sin practice is something that we do intentionally right it's we're training we're working on something and what we practice shows who we are and more more implicitly it shows who our father is it shows who we look like if
[47:36] I look like Jesus that shows I'm related to him if I'm looking like the devil shows his influence on me my nature showing one way or the other right so what so verse 10 then he said he just kind of boils it down verse 10 this is by this it's evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil here's how you tell don't be deceived this is simple whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is the one who does not love his brother you know you either practice or you don't so then he sticks in again at the end of verse 8 this statement about the work of Christ he says verse 8 whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning so what did
[48:39] God do about it well God did something about that the reason the son of God appeared the reason God sent his son the reason he appeared was to destroy the works of the devil because from the beginning the devil is the one who has brought sin in by deceiving!
[48:59] Eve by tempting Adam and then as you trace through Genesis you'll find there's two sets of people just like John says there's two kinds of people there's sons of God and there's sons of Adam there's the good seed right we can always trace from Genesis on we can trace who the good seed is right first you have Adam and Eve and they have a son named what Cain and Abel so there's a good one and a bad one right so Cain kills Abel what does God do he replaces Abel with Seth and then Seth right you trace through Seth you trace through him you get Noah you get Methuselah you get right you get down to Abraham you go from Abraham you go to Isaac instead of Ishmael then you go to Jacob instead of
[50:00] Esau Esau yeah okay right so you see that all the way through you see this line you see this division in the same family right there's always been two there's always been two sides from the beginning one that followed the devil and one that trusted God so he came to destroy the devil's work he appears to destroy the works of the devil now this word destroy is a little misleading it sounds like well then if he destroyed the works of the devil the devil's done right he'd have no more influence he's eliminated now that's a miss translation perhaps of the meaning of the word it can mean destroy!
[50:54] literally the word means loose loose he loosed the works of the devil he messed him up the devil had it all packaged up and Jesus is like oops oh what happened oh I ruined it for you kind of my weird idea he's loosed he's tearing them down he's restricted obviously he's not eliminated the works of the devil he still tempts he still deceives right but his work and his influence on believers has been severely restricted he has been bound he's been tied he can still talk to believers he can still don't be deceived right he can still deceive but he cannot control a believer he cannot make a believer do anything he cannot enslave and capture a believer so the influence of the works of the devil is evident when
[52:03] Jesus comes right we see Jesus coming and he starts preaching what happens they get these interruptions in his preaching right by the demonized people you know they're all like hey hey did you come to destroy us now what you know he's and he's setting people free as he eliminates the devil these people are controlled right by the devil now people in our day would say I'm not controlled by the I do what I want do you really how do you know Jesus said everyone who sins is enslaved to sin that was really offensive to the Jews we don't get enslaved by anybody oh yeah I forgot about that Egypt thing but otherwise oh yeah Babylon okay never mind he says no everyone who's sin is a slave to sin and the father of sin is Satan so so so he's destroyed that he's so what are the devil's work well devil means accuser or slanderer liar deceiver and by that he gets us to sin when we as Jesus says when he's sin we become enslaved to sin the devil holds people captive to do his will and so when we are saved right
[53:27] Paul says that we are transferred from the authority of darkness from the dominion of darkness from the slavery to darkness we are delivered to a new kingdom to the kingdom of his beloved son right before we're converted we're dead we're in dread in sin trespasses we're enslaved we're doing all the passions of our flesh there's nothing but that that we can do that's who we are that's our nature when we're saved we're given a new nature and now I can actually choose not to do that I know you're saying what about people not everybody in the world is a slave sinner are they I mean I know non-christians who are real moral and okay yeah they're in the image of God they can still do things that God does Pharisees what did Jesus say about the Pharisees they were really moral you can't get more moral than the
[54:29] Pharisees right they had all the rules on the outside right they did everything right said everything right Jesus said yeah but I can see inside of you you're a hypocrite you're just pretending so you can look real moral not be righteous so now we get to something in verse nine I want you to see there there's a difference when we're born again this whole he's taken away sin he's taken away the power of sin and defeated and disarmed the power of the devil how do we come into that well we're born again and that makes a radical difference so he says in verse nine if I can find it no one born of God no one born of God no one who has been reborn regenerated converted of God no one born of God makes a practice of sinning okay he's already said that he's already said we practice righteous not sinning but here no one can't he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God does that mean I'm not a
[55:56] Christian if I'm really born again then I can't keep sinning but I can how about you Christians can't you still sin yeah then what's he saying and isn't he contradicting himself because back in chapter one he said nobody can say that they don't sin right and that when we do sin we have an advocate we go and we confess and the Father cleanses us right right so now he's saying you can't sin so mean those people that say they're sinless Christians are right no no John's not he knows what he said he's not contradicting himself so what does it mean he didn't say God's seed is in him and he will not sin didn't say that he didn't say can't get it right yeah he didn't just say he cannot sin because we can sin he said you cannot keep on sinning you cannot keep on sinning
[57:17] I cannot practice sinning can I sin yes can I fall yes can I fall several times yes can I have even a period of prodigal son ism is that what you call it we're astray for a while yeah can I get as bad as David still be a believer but get as bad as David yeah you can get as bad as David what's going to happen though you can't keep doing that why couldn't David keep doing it now God was already coming at him right Psalm 32 your I felt that I was miserable right still didn't repent so what God do Nate come over here Nathan the prophet Nate Nate come over see David tell him a story about the little sheep you know and make it convicting for him I'll get him because he's not going to keep doing this so
[58:23] Nathan you go after David you tell him that will get him because I'm going to get him I'm going to bring him back every believer even though if you have a time of sin what's God going to come after you first it will be gentle right he's so gentle and if we're stubborn right then comes the clock you know don't send Nathan please actually Nathan was quite gentle!
[58:53] right but did he have to talk about a sheep you know David's susceptible as a shepherd to little sheep so so it's not that I can't sin I can sin but I can't keep on sinning if I'm really born of God I can't keep on sinning God's just not going to let me keep doing that he's going to hound me he's going to break me he's going to draw me right he's going to discipline me right oh you think that's fun okay here let me turn the to me when I'm being rebellious oh you think so I'm going to make it a little bit more miserable for you right I'm going to make it a little bit more empty for you curse out that guy that's not going to feel so good now right you get angry at that person when you start gossiping about people you know!
[59:57] I'm going to make that really! miserable for you anybody been in that experience that yeah sin ain't fun I mean it's initially fun otherwise it wouldn't be a temptation right I mean it is an escape but then it's just not that fun anymore it's like idiot talking to me is how I talk to me God seed is in him remember the parable of the sower what was the seed right the sower is Jesus he's throwing the seeds out right and the seeds are going on different kinds of ground what's the seed remember he said the seed is the word right and the word is what in the armor!
[60:46] of God the word is what it's called the sword of the! the! so the fact and the spirit is the power that takes that and pierces our heart with it right spirit works together that's the seed that's implanted that's the seed and we know by the Holy Spirit the seed causes us to be reborn the indwelling of God is converting us so I can't keep sinning sinning it's not going to be a continual!
[61:27] it's absolutely incompatible with who I am you cannot serve two masters I can try I have two masters I've got sin and I've got righteousness which one can I serve I can't serve them both so if I'm God's I can't serve sin I can try but when I do it's like serving two masters if you serve two masters!
[61:51] what are you going to do? you love one hate the other I'm going to love God and I'm going to hate my sin that's what I'm going to do I'm going to try but I'm going to hate it fact you can't do both doesn't mean I can't try so why so listen to this promise way back in Ezekiel 36 when he says I'm going to send the new covenant when I'm going to change everything he says in Ezekiel 36 I will put my spirit within you and cause you make you walk in my statutes and cause you to be careful to obey my rules what's changed I'm changing you the spirit changed you I'm not going to make you like you better I'm going to come inside of you and go yeah I'll do this not make you like no
[62:52] I'm going to make you new so you want to do it right that's how I know I'm saved because I want to and now I hate the other then it shows what an idiot I am when I do the other right so in what way did Jesus destroy the works of the devil I said that he appeared to disarm and that comes from Colossians 2 Colossians 2 describes you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh and God made you alive together so there's transforming God made you alive with him having forgiven us all our trespasses!
[63:42] By canceling out the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands Jesus takes the law against us and cancels it wow this he set aside how by nailing it to the cross he takes all the law everything we've done and nails it to the cross and says paid he did something else he did something else he disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Christ he crushed the head of the serpent at the cross you believe that he stripped him of his power so the cross forgives and cancels our debt but it also disarms the devil how does that impact how we conquer the devil here's how
[64:42] James put it really simple submit to God and what resist the devil and what he will flee really is that easy resist the devil and he will flee so James says it's simple not easy simple resist the devil and he will flee what does that mean resist stand your ground refuse to yield oppose him speak to him he's not omniscient he doesn't hear your thoughts he's only the devil he's not God so speak to him that's why Jesus spoke to him it is written flee well I wouldn't be that Jesus can do that go away yeah that's why that's why
[65:47] Michael didn't argue with Satan right and didn't take his own power he said the Lord rebuke you right even Michael okay I'm not Michael so I ain't gonna mess around Jesus rebuke you Jesus died for my sins Jesus forgave me it is written flee immorality it is written flee idolatry it is written you shall not covet it is written be angry but do not sin it is written he has removed my sins it is written oh devil by the way he is he's destroyed your works well I don't think I'd laugh but you might be in the moment power the power of the word I'm not saying I'm not telling the devil what to do the words tell the devil what to do resist him Peter says it the same way he adds an element to how we resist the devil he says be sober be watchful your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour so be aware okay don't be ignorant about this so resist him when he comes seeking to devour your soul resist him how firm in the faith firm in the truth of what we believe true firm in the gospel so in the faith so the armor of
[67:21] God what is it first we put on a belt of truth and put on a breastplate of righteousness and we get some shoes on shoes are what that's harder to know what gospel of peace it's a gospel I need to walk in the gospel and then we take up a shield of faith firm in your faith because the shield of faith does what it extinguishes all the flaming darts of the evil one because that's how he does his evil he accuses he slanders he wants to tell you see you're a failure see it doesn't work and then it gives two more things Jimmy's ready put on the helmet so when the battle is ready put on the helmet okay because it's going to be head shots put on your helmet
[68:30] I'm saved big view and then what oh then the only offensive weapon I have then take up what sword of the spirit which is the word of God every piece of the armor is not mine every piece of the armor is God's it's his truth not my truth it's his righteousness not mine my righteousness isn't going to protect my soul and my heart his righteousness will right his shoes of the gospel it's his gospel his peace that he gives me shield of faith faith in what his promises I will never leave you I feel alone Lord I will never leave you okay he's here he's here everything is for good this doesn't seem good okay it's good I trust that it's good he will make it good on and on resist the devil and he will flee!
[69:39] Okay I'm gonna believe that one right helmet sword sword is lethal it is written it is written it is written we resist the devil because Jesus appeared to disarm his power he ain't what he was he's a crippled dragon but he's still crafty as ever and he's heard what you've done and he's seen well he doesn't see everybody he's got minions right they have seen what you've done they know where you're weak but he can't read your thoughts so you tell out loud to sin or not to sin that's the question children of
[70:44] God conquer sin and the devil let's pray father we thank you for your word we thank you for John how deliberate he is how thoughtful he is we thank you Lord for the different writers of scripture that you have inspired you inspired Paul to write in a certain way about our fight with sin you inspired John totally different personality and how he fights with sin how he thinks it through but both of them father line up both of them track because it's about identity and it's about what Christ has done at the cross help us believe who we are and help us oh father die to sin and live to righteousness that we might honor you we pray in
[71:47] Christ's name amen